JOURNALISTS THREATENED

I was seated in a meeting and a gentleman gave a definition that stunned me. He described a good journalist as one who reports what he likes and a bad one as someone who writes what he does not want. Any way i was stunned to an extent coz that is a perception of all politicians. Now what is even more amazing is, that kind of person would come up and tell you he has come up with measures to regulate the media.

There was a media policy dialogue i was attending in Kampala at Hotel Africana and one of the journalists revealed that they had received an order from the Jinja Resident District Commissioner who is a representative of the President in that area to write their full name, E-mail address[es], telephone number[s], postal address and Physical residential address all submitted to the RDC's office at a given deadline.This was to be done on individual basis and it was an order to be followed by all the journalists in the region.

It is just a week after that incident and am now in Jinja. Guess what, it is the same RDC who is officiating at the opening of a workshop we have organised on environmental reporting. Before he begins his speech, he is provoked by the workshop mobiliser to give a comment on that matter. Am seated next to him and he says "The reason why i asked for your details is because i want to guard you aganist quack journalists who have thronged your profession". Just wait a second.

What will be the criteria followed in describing one quack? Does it mean that the media lacks its own regulators as a profession? Most important is, if you consider such a vague definition of a journalist, are'nt journalists at a risk of being stopped from operating if they expose what government didnt want to be exposed, all in the name of "quack"? Dont you think so?

CROCODILE SUMMIT

At the lake, everyone is carrying his activities on and does not think about the other fauna species in the waters. But the truth is, aren’t they existing and don’t they have concerns? Let’s see what happens.
Crocodiles are seated in an annual summit and they are all bamboozled. The summit has mainly been organized to discuss climate change to join the rest of the world in discussing adaptation. From the discussions, it is realized that the most urgent problem to be solved is that of food scarcity. The crocodile Minister for Disaster Preparedness scratches his head and comes out with a solution.
“There is no reason why we should suffer when there is a nutritious meal just before us” the Minister says. All rise to embrace the news to an end of their suffering. He says “eat human beings”. All [crocodiles] clap and shout and they start the hunt for food. Only the hard working will have something to eat coz human beings are also not easy. By the time the year 2008 ends, 24 people have already been eaten by crocodiles. This year 2009, 4 people including a teenager have been eaten up as well.
All this is at a landing site called Rubango on Lake Victoria in Bugiri District in Uganda. When it rains, then the fish produce a lot and they go to places near the banks especially near the swamps to get shades. This is why the crocodiles come to the banks to eat fish but because it has also reduced, they resort to eating human beings attributed to prolonged rainy seasons due to climate change.
The lake also gets too hot and the crocodiles go to very deep areas in the lake to adapt to the heat. There they do not have fish to eat because fish cannot stay in very deep waters. So when the fishermen are carrying out their activities, the crocodiles just feast on them because of being too hungry.
I was actually at a workshop for journalists on environmental reporting in Jinja and this was one of the issues raised and I found it interesting to share with you.