Africa-Press – Uganda. Journalism is mostly a thankless job. The struggle to fulfil the duties of a robust, functional and effective Fourth Estate is no mean feat. And for many journalists, the pay might not even be commiserated to the strenuous work and long hours involved in executing their duties.
Be it as it may, the least a country can give its journalists is a safe working environment.
Journalists are known to fight for everyone’s rights but theirs. It was therefore refreshing when they demanded an apology from a police officer who pepper-sprayed two journalists who were covering a demonstration on Tuesday.
This happened as police dispersed medical intern doctors, who were holding a demonstration over the delayed commencement of their internship for 2023/2024, near Mulago Guest House in Wandegeya, Kampala.
The police spokesperson, Mr Fred Enanga, in a statement, condemned the manner in which the two journalists were treated and said the officer had been suspended and handed over to the Professional Standards Unit (PSU), for investigations, even though the said police officer apologised for his actions. (See Daily Monitor, Thursday April 13, “Police apologise over attack on journalists.) The Force has been declared the leading violator of press freedoms in Uganda, according to numerous reports by the Human Rights Network for Journalists. And some efforts have been made to change this record, with police promising to take individual action against its officers who are found guilty of abusing journalists’ as was the case in the Tuesday incident.
So now that the apology has been made and the culprit suspended pending investigations, what next? Kiss and make-up while we wait for the next incident that will be quickly followed by another coerced apology and perhaps ‘friendly’ football match between the media the Force? What happens to the injuries or broken equipment, not to mention the psychological effect this has on the victims? Can apologies and suspensions take care of this too?
We acknowledge and appreciate the apology and subsequent suspension and investigations. These are good steps in the right direction, afterall, every great task has to start somewhere, however small but progress must be seen to be taken. It will take a lot more to establish trust and believability between the two entities.
Therefore, there has got to be a multi-pronged approach of dealing with violation of press freedom otherwise, newsrooms across the country might have to establish a desk specifically in charge of receiving police apologies every time a journalist is abused.
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