According to the World Press Freedom Index 2022, published on World Press Freedom Day May 3, journalism was regarded as a very complex and difficult profession in Uganda.
Journalism has been regarded as a bad and very complicated profession to do in Uganda according to the 2022 edition of the World Press Freedom Index published on World Press Freedom Day May 03.
The report which assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories named Uganda as the second-worst country to be a journalist in the East African region with Rwanda being the worst.
The new ranking means Uganda has dropped seven positions from last year. In 2021, Uganda was at number 125 out of 180 countries and territories surveyed. This year Uganda is down to number 132 out of 180. The higher the rank the worse the performance is.
According to the Paris-based NGO, journalists face a number of consequences including being kidnapped, arrested and killed every time they open up to criticise the ruling government, a reason cited for Uganda’s drop in ranking.
“Kidnapping, violence, illegal confinement, arrest, confiscation of equipment – these are some of the consequences that journalists face if they criticise the regime,” the index noted.
“Journalists are among the country’s worst-paid professionals. Work contracts are rare, and only a few reporters make more than US$200 (Approx. Shs700,000) a month. Their financial insecurity makes them susceptible to corruption.”
The index outlined that Uganda is the only EA country to post a worse ranking on the Index this year compared to last year in 2021. According to the index, findings indicate the working conditions for journalists have gotten better in all EA countries except Uganda.
Burundi and South Sudan which ranked worse than Uganda last year have registered improvements and have been ranked better than Uganda.
War-troubled South Sudan moved from number 139 to 128, Burundi from 147 to 107, Tanzania from 124 to 123, and Rwanda from 156 to 136. Eastern neighbour Kenya is best ranked at number 69 from 102 last year.
Meanwhile, Eritrea is the only African country among the 10 worst countries for press freedom around the world. It is ranked number 179, just behind the worst-ranked North Korea. These are closely followed by Iran, Turkmenistan, Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cuba, Iraq, Syria, and Palestine.
The twelve worst countries on press freedom in Africa are Eritrea (179), Egypt (168), Djibouti (164), Sudan (151), Libya (143), Equatorial Guinea (141), Somalia (140), Zimbabwe (137), Rwanda (136), Western Sahara (135), Algeria (134) and Uganda (132).
The five best-ranked countries are Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, and Finland. The U.S. is number 44, the UK (24), France (26), and Germany (16).
See the full report HERE.
