Will the anti-homosexuality law force journalists to bend their code of ethics when covering LGBTQI stories in Uganda?
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Author: Vincent Kyabayinze, Director, EAVA Artists, June 27 2023 - A reporter working for a local print media asked me if I would continue to cover stories of the LBGTQI+ community after parliament passed the anti-homosexuality Bill 2023 and was assented to by the president.
Yes, that was my response.
Lines of worry formed on her forehead, and she shook her head in disapproval. For her, the Bill ended her professional relationship with the LGBTQI people, a community she has been covering since 2015 and has written several articles about for her newspaper, which is considered a liberal print outlet.
Her stories have never been about promoting LGBTQI activities: they have been about telling people's experiences without bias, but in context. Through interactions, she has come to understand the community and has presented it with dignity on paper, but not lauded it. And that made her one of the few exceptional journalists in Uganda who accurately wrote about sexual minority stories.
However, with the law gaining both local and international media attention, many journalists, including her, have ceased telling any LGBTQI story for fear of being jailed or fined on accusations or suspicious grounds that they are promoting homosexuality.
Journalists and publishers could face prosecution and imprisonment for publishing, broadcasting or distributing content deemed to advocate for the rights of LGBTQI people.
Section 7 restricts media, hence creating a looming fear amongst some journalists in Uganda. "Section 7 of the act requires that for any media personality or publisher to write or develop a story disclosing the identity and information of a victim, there must be consent or permission either from the court or the victim. The impact here is that if the victim declines to grant you permission or is unreachable, the person interested in publishing the story should apply to the court for permission to publish such information publicly. A fine of two hundred and fifty currency points awaits any abuser of this law. As per the first schedule to this act, on currency point is equal to UGX, 20,000."
As of now, the only stories coming out in local media about the LGBTQI community are those about arrests of pedophilia suspects and organizations accused of engaging in promoting LGBTQI activities.
Such news stories lack objectivity, fairness and balance, which are key codes in journalism ethics. Many, out of a small cluster of journalists who have been telling LGBTQI stories by incorporating the code of ethics, are shying away from reporting sexual minority stories.
The problem with that is that such decisions will deepen discrimination towards LGBTQI people, and their voices will not be heard.
Journalists are storytellers; they share people's experiences with the world by amplifying their voices. But if their job is going to be limited or sabotaged by Bills and Laws enacted by parliament, then the profession is likely to suffer.
If journalists, by law, are restricted on whose story to tell and not to tell and how to tell it, and their media organizations restricted on what to publish or broadcast, it would affect media freedom and take away the independence of the mind of a journalist, which would result in self-censorship.
As the law stands now, it seems to suggest that it aims to promote hatred and discrimination towards LGBTQI people, rather than curtailing the alleged promotion of anti-homosexual activities in Uganda.
The president of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, signed the Anti-Homosexuality bill into law on 26 May 2023.
We are witnessing a threat to media freedom.
Image credit: EAVA Artists
Yes, that was my response.
Lines of worry formed on her forehead, and she shook her head in disapproval. For her, the Bill ended her professional relationship with the LGBTQI people, a community she has been covering since 2015 and has written several articles about for her newspaper, which is considered a liberal print outlet.
Her stories have never been about promoting LGBTQI activities: they have been about telling people's experiences without bias, but in context. Through interactions, she has come to understand the community and has presented it with dignity on paper, but not lauded it. And that made her one of the few exceptional journalists in Uganda who accurately wrote about sexual minority stories.
However, with the law gaining both local and international media attention, many journalists, including her, have ceased telling any LGBTQI story for fear of being jailed or fined on accusations or suspicious grounds that they are promoting homosexuality.
Journalists and publishers could face prosecution and imprisonment for publishing, broadcasting or distributing content deemed to advocate for the rights of LGBTQI people.
Section 7 restricts media, hence creating a looming fear amongst some journalists in Uganda. "Section 7 of the act requires that for any media personality or publisher to write or develop a story disclosing the identity and information of a victim, there must be consent or permission either from the court or the victim. The impact here is that if the victim declines to grant you permission or is unreachable, the person interested in publishing the story should apply to the court for permission to publish such information publicly. A fine of two hundred and fifty currency points awaits any abuser of this law. As per the first schedule to this act, on currency point is equal to UGX, 20,000."
As of now, the only stories coming out in local media about the LGBTQI community are those about arrests of pedophilia suspects and organizations accused of engaging in promoting LGBTQI activities.
Such news stories lack objectivity, fairness and balance, which are key codes in journalism ethics. Many, out of a small cluster of journalists who have been telling LGBTQI stories by incorporating the code of ethics, are shying away from reporting sexual minority stories.
The problem with that is that such decisions will deepen discrimination towards LGBTQI people, and their voices will not be heard.
Journalists are storytellers; they share people's experiences with the world by amplifying their voices. But if their job is going to be limited or sabotaged by Bills and Laws enacted by parliament, then the profession is likely to suffer.
If journalists, by law, are restricted on whose story to tell and not to tell and how to tell it, and their media organizations restricted on what to publish or broadcast, it would affect media freedom and take away the independence of the mind of a journalist, which would result in self-censorship.
As the law stands now, it seems to suggest that it aims to promote hatred and discrimination towards LGBTQI people, rather than curtailing the alleged promotion of anti-homosexual activities in Uganda.
The president of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, signed the Anti-Homosexuality bill into law on 26 May 2023.
We are witnessing a threat to media freedom.
Image credit: EAVA Artists
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