Africa-Press – Uganda. The media fraternity under their umbrella of National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) have rejected a proposal by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to have free Covid-19 sensitisation talk shows as directed by President Museveni.
In a November 15 letter, President Museveni directed that Residential City Commissioners (RCCs), Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), and District Health Officers (DHOs) be allocated free airtime to appear on broadcasting stations ( radios and televisions at 8pm every Wednesday and Sunday for 30 minutes to mobilise the masses to go for Covid-19 vaccinations.
UCC received the letter from the ICT ministry relaying the directive.
However, in a December 27 letter signed by NAB chairperson Kin Kariisa, the broadcasters indicated that none of their members had received a corresponding commercial booking and, therefore, the appearances on radio and television stations shall not be provide for free.
“As you are well aware , the broadcaster and media in general have been very aggressive with campaigns since February 2020 and these voluntary Covid-19 sensitisation campaigns were very effective,’’ the letter states.
NAB reveal that the awareness levels were estimated to be above 95 percent despite lack of or minimal financial support from the government.
“It is in the same breathe that after the second wave, we foresaw the need for deliberate campaign on mass vaccination. We took the initiative and sent a letter to the Office of the Prime Minister on June 21 and reminders thereafter, informing the government about the need to reactivate the said media campaigns, unfortunately, we did not receive any response,’’ the broadcasters further stated.
“As our regulator, UCC is aware of the negative effects that the pandemic has had on the media industry financially, and yet broadcasters still have to pay taxes, licence fees, employees’ salaries, meet operational costs and much more,” NAB indicated.
The broadcasters advised the government to budget for a deliberate sustained media campaign to ensure the jabs are administered to the population before the vaccines expires.
“Please note that we will continue to run the presidential Covid-19 addresses for free with or without notice. We, however, cannot host these numerous talk shows for free,” they stated.
Expensive service
The broadcasters indicated that media services are expensive to offer . “We have bills to pay to keep the services on air and we do not receive any government subsidies. Many of our members are yet to be paid,” NAB stated.
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