School of Journalism, Media and Communication

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The Influence of Organisational Characteristics and Campaign Design Elements on Communication Campaign Quality: Evidence From 91 Ugandan AIDS Campaigns
(Taylor & Francis, 2002) Kiwanuka-Tondo, James; Snyder, Leslie B.
This research proposes and tests a model of the relationship between organizational factors, campaign design elements, and campaign quality of communication campaigns. It is the first quantitative study to test these relationships across many organizations. The context for the study was AIDS education and outreach campaigns in Uganda, during a time of successful decrease in the spread of HIV infection. Ninety-one organisations were surveyed. Since only 14% of the organisations collected exposure or outcome data, the study focused on the factors affecting campaign quality. Quality was examined by measuring goal-specific city, execution quality, and message quality. The results show that financial resources, professional training, participation of outreach workers in planning the campaign, and audience participation in planning and executing the campaign were key organizational variables affecting the quality of the campaigns. The important campaign design elements affecting campaign quality were conducting research, using multiple channels, targeting only a few groups, and pretesting messages. The results have essential for campaign planners, managers of organizations conducting campaigns, and funders. In addition, it is vital that organizations collect exposure and outcome data in the future to provide feedback on each campaign.
AIDS Communication Campaigns in Uganda: Organisational Factors and Campaign Planning as Predictors of Successful Campaign Execution
(Routledge, 2009) Kiwanuka-Tondo, James; Jameson, Jessica Katz; Hamilton, Mark
About 60% of all the HIV/AIDS cases are found in sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS, 2007). While a few countries in the region have shown a decline in prevalence, most countries in southern Africa have made little progress in their fight against AIDS. The goal of this study was to provide empirical support to confirm and extend an earlier model of the effect of organizational factors and campaign planning on campaign execution to help answer the question of what makes for a successful communication campaign to change AIDS-related behavior. A survey of the top leaders of 120 Ugandan organizations delivering AIDS communication campaigns supports a model that illustrates the vital role of several features, such as focused campaign goals, the formality of organizational structure, and outreach worker supervision, on effective campaign execution. Surprisingly, financial resources are negatively related to goal extensiveness and message clarity and may be a distraction during campaign execution.
The evolution of media policy in Uganda
(African Communication Research journal Published by the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communications at St. Augustine University of Tanzania, Mwanza, Tanzania, 2010) Chibita, Monica B.
This article examines attempts to put into policy or law the parameters of media freedoms in Uganda since the colonial period. Taking a historical approach, the paper identifies major trends in media policy in Uganda across different political regimes. The trends indicate a lack of consistent, clearly articulated and documented policy, a level of ambiguity in the wording of legislation, a tendency to retain outmoded colonial legislation and to recycle aspects of repealed laws, deliberate efforts to curtail editorial independence in the laws, inadequate provisions for converting the state broadcaster into a public broadcaster, the use of the protection of reputations to obscure the mismanagement of public affairs, and the often over-arching powers of the executive to intervene in the day-to-day regulation of the media. Methodologically, the article relies on in-depth interviews and legal documents. The article concludes that although Uganda has made some strides in the media policy arena, the situation is still “precarious” and the most recently proposed media bill does not bode well for media freedoms in the near future.
Climate change in Ugandan media: A ‘Global Warming’ of journalism ethics
(Journal of African Media Studies, 2013) Semujju, Brian
The idea of climate change has reached a contentious breaking point at an interna¬tional level where its major causes, existence and intensity are separating informed minds. This article is an examination of the four major schools of thought on climate change and how two newspapers in Uganda are covering those divergent views. The article argues that in the coverage of global warming in particular the hith-erto treasured notion of objectivity has been replaced by a form of blind journalism instigated by frames from local and international stakeholders. The study analyses content from two newspapers in Uganda to show that media in Uganda cover the resonating frame, which argues that climate change is a time bomb, with total disre¬gard for other views or their existence. Guided by the framing theory, the article suggests that a detachment of climate change from international meanings and an introduction of the ‘scientific spirit’ will restore balance by inviting media to explore counter-frames.
Participatory media for a non-participating community: Western media for Southern communities
(Sage publications, 2014) Semujju, Brian
This paper draws on the contrast between community media and the nature of its communities in Africa that are not participatory but use participatory media. The general contention is that participatory media in Africa preside over non-participatory communities. The paper uses data collected at one Ugandan community media to prove that the limitations between community media and ‘the community’ require over half a century to solve. The immediate solution should be to rethink the idea of community, pay more attention not just to the nature of which media can develop which community as if it (community) was a homogeneous entity but also the idea of which community has the ability to host which media. The paper concludes by suggesting a redefinition of media to include non-media forms that show more potential in enhancing participation for all than community media.
Frontline Farmers, Backline Sources: Women as a tertiary voice in climate change coverage
(Routledge (Taylor and Francis), 2015) Semujju, Brian
Gender meaning construction and interpretation, which suggest women’s inferiority to men, is deeply rooted in social-cultural signs and codes drawn from traditional contexts. In Uganda, girls start to face this reality at an early age. Among low income earning families, very few are enrolled in school, thus as they grow up they suffer from invisibility created by low education and income levels. This paper notes how such gender realities in the media have been investigated in other parts of the world and that the general thesis has been that the media have “marginalized women in the public sphere.” Turning to the position of women as both sources and reporters, in Uganda this area of inquiry has been given little scholarly attention. To fill that gap, this essay draws upon feminist media theory to help contextualize findings obtained through content analysis (N=671) data drawn from two Ugandan newspapers. Using climate change as a coverage issue, since 56percent of women in Uganda are farmers, the results of this study show that the gender gap in Uganda is highly pronounced, with women as sources ranked third in importance after men and anonymous sources.
Broadcasting Governance and Development in ‘Museveni’s Uganda’
(Taylor & Francis Online, 2015-06-09) Maractho, Emilly Comfort
Despite recent developments in technology and globalisation, the broadcast and print media in many countries still run on separate tracks. This article, which is based on qualitative research carried out between 2012 and 2014, examines the governance and development of media in ‘Museveni’s Uganda’ (1986- ), with specific reference to broadcasting. The aim is to explore the extent to which legislation and the regulation of broadcasting have affected its development in Uganda. The key question is: How has broadcasting governance affected broadcast media development in Uganda during the Museveni years? The main approach was content analysis of relevant legislation and policies, and key informant interviews with major stakeholders. The key finding is that in the period under examination, Uganda adopted a piecemeal approach to legislation, and to a great extent relied on laws rather than policies to govern broadcasting. Broadcasting diversity and independence remained elusive, and little development of the sector beyond growth in numbers (multiplicity of outlets) was experienced. There is a need to review existing frameworks.
Introducing Community Audio Towers as an alternative to community radio in Uganda
(Journal of Alternative and Community Media, 2016) Semujju, Brian
Community radio started as an alternative to commercial media. The need for an alternative was clear, with many societal voices unrepresented, indicating the domination of the means of mental production by a few. This article presents two communities in Uganda that use Community Audio Towers (CATs) as an alternative to community radio, and examines why the communities prefer the use of CATs to ‘mainstream’ community radio. Using data collected through observation at two sites in Uganda and 10 key informant interviews from major communication stakeholders, including Uganda’s Minister of Information and Communication Technology, the article presents findings indicating that CATs are self-sustaining, with no NGO influence, and they redefine news to mean local emergencies and occurrences, while having no structures (horizontal/vertical rhetoric) as they are started and run by one community member. The challenges of the new alternative media are also discussed.
Localizing Complex Scientific Communication: A SWOT Analysis and Multi-Sectoral Approach of Communicating Climate Change
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2016) Kiwanuka-Tondo, James; Pettiway, Keon Mandell
This paper argues that a SWOT analysis (Dyson, 2004; Helms & Nixon, 2010; Holtzhausen & Zerfass, 2015; Houben, Lenie, & Vanhoof, 1999; Noble & Bestley, 2011) and a multi-sectorial approach (Okware, Opio, Musingizi, & Waibale, 2001; The World Bank, 2000; Uganda AIDS Commission & UNAIDS, 2000) to strategic communication can provide communication designers with a conceptual framework for localizing climate prediction and risk management information. The overarching idea is to use a multi-way communication model, such as suggested by McQuail (1987), to downscale climate data in a way that better addresses the communication expectations of the public in different locales. Such approaches can reduce barriers that often inhibit the international transfer of technical and scientific data for public consumption in different global contexts. To examine these issues, this paper uses a SWOT analysis for considering strategic communication planning in international settings. In so doing, the paper examines the work of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGARD) Climate Predictions and Applications Centre (ICPAC) in its efforts to respond to climate extremes and ensure disaster risk management in the Greater Horn of Africa.
Community Audio Towers in Uganda
(3CMedia, 2016-05) Semujju, Brian
While community broadcasting has been documented for aiding development in the Global South, communities in Uganda engage in narrowcasting and share information using Community Audio Towers (CATs). This challenges our understanding of communication for development media since CATs employ both the one-way and the two-way approaches to ensure survival. Among the crucial areas of CATs that have not been attended to by academic scrutiny is the issue of how CATs sustain themselves financially. To cover that gap, the CAT processes of information gathering, processing and dissemination, are discussed below. The discussion comes from data collected using 10 key informant interviews to show how CATs, platforms that are economically non-viable, are able to survive in myriad economically-oriented media systems in Uganda. Implications of CATs for local community development are herein highlighted.
Ugandan adolescents’ sources, interpretation and evaluation of sexual content in entertainment media programming
(Taylor and Francis (Routledge), 2016-08-05) Miller, Ann Neville; Nalugya, Evangeline; Gabolya, Charles; Lagot, Sarah; Mulwanya, Richard; Kiva, Joseph; Nabasaaka, Grace; Chibita, Monica B.
Although mounting evidence in Western nations indicates that entertainment media influence young people’s sexual socialisation, virtually no research has addressed the topic in sub-Saharan Africa. The present study employed 14 focus groups of Ugandan high school students to identify media through which they were exposed to sexual content, how they interpreted and evaluated that content, and how they compared its influence with that of parents, schools and religious institutions. Participants most often mentioned TV, followed by print media and Internet as sources of sexual material. Media were said to present discrepant messages regarding the timing of sexual debut, with international programming urging early sexual debut and local programming described as urging young people to delay sex. Young people spoke of turning to ssengas and kojjas for sexual advice, and a number of boys suggested pornography could also be educational. Both local and international programming was interpreted as conveying views of men as sex driven and women as submissive in sex and relationships. Participants expressed the belief that sexual media content had a negative impact on young people. Most nevertheless assessed these messages as more influential than other sources of sexual socialisation.
The structure of news in Community Audio Towers
(Journal of African Media Studies, 2017) Semujju, Brian
This article draws attention to the current sensational modernist conceptualization of news as conflict and prominence to argue that news among the poor be understood as activities happening in a village. Findings obtained through observation at two Community Audio Towers (CATs), plus ten key informant interviews with Uganda’s CAT stakeholders at community and national levels, suggest that the global media logic, supported by massive media structures that dictate what news is, finds no relevance in critical local news methodologies. Using the Critical theory, this article concludes that the counter-ideological events redefine the concept of news from conflict and prominence obtained through professional news making cultures to whatever information the village members take to the towers.
Cross Regional Differences in HIV/AIDS Prevalence in Tanzania: How Socio-Economic and Cultural Contexts Affect Perceived Individual and Group Efficacy
(Routledge, 2017) Kiwanuka-Tondo, James
The purpose of this study was to conduct a cross-regional comparative analysis of the cultural, social, and economic differences that influence the HIV/AIDS prevalence as well as the differences in media channels and messages used in the prevention campaigns in two neighboring regions in Tanzania-Singida with one of the lowest (3.3%) and Iringa with one of the highest (9.1%) prevalence in the country. Four focus groups were conducted in each region among both rural and urban areas in the two regions. The findings indicated major differences in tribal composition, cultural, social, and economic factors that influence sexual behaviors in the two regions. Participants also indicated that there were differences in media channels used in the prevention campaigns in the two regions. The findings have practical and theoretical implications for campaign designers, scholars, organizations, and funding agencies in Tanzania in particular and sub-Saharan Africa in general.
Mass Media, Women and Public Life in Uganda: Interrogating Representation, Interaction and Engagement
(University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2017) Maractho, Emilly Comfort
This study was motivated by the strides Uganda has made towards the growth of the media and women’s participation in public life. The puzzle is that this increased participation of women in public life is hardly captured in the media, particularly public affairs programmes on the broadcast media. This study, therefore, interrogates women’s media participation through representation, interaction and engagement as components of conjunctural factors that are relevant to facilitating women’s participation in public life. The research is informed by critical theory, and in particular feminist thought, cultural studies and public sphere theory. The marginalisation and oppression of women advanced by feminist theorists, the systems of representation through power and knowledge in cultural studies, and the open participation of discursive programmes that demystify gatekeeping practices in traditional programming in public sphere theory, were the frames used to guide this study. I use multi-method and multidisciplinary approaches that entail quantitative content analysis, qualitative case studies and grounded theory to interrogate the influence of the broadcast media on women’s participation in public life. The thesis of my research is that women’s media participation in public affairs programmes through representation conceptualised as voice and visibility, interaction as consultation and conversation and engagement as involvement and influence, would facilitate women’s participation in public life. Limited representation, interaction and engagement, therefore, frustrate or at least do not advance, women’s participation in public life, contrary to the perceived potential and transformative role of the media. I find that participation remains minimal. The problem is not just the media which has in most studies is found responsible for the negative portrayal of women, but a complex interrelationship between women and the state, society and the media. The state opens up space for women and, paradoxically, closes it, culture defines women’s role in society, and the media reproduces cultural narratives that are injurious to women. Women push back, sometimes but often remain loyal to the state, respond to cultural expectations and ignore the media or disengage from it. This, thus thwarts meaningful opportunities for participation that could help change the perceptions about women’s role in society as well as mobilise and motivate women to participate in public life. The implication for policy and current strategies for women’s empowerment, in particular affirmative action pursued in Uganda and elsewhere, is huge. There is need to rethink the existing models of women’s empowerment and the gender equality agenda, cognisant of the current paradigm of neoliberalism, in particular liberalism and globalism, that thrive on competition, communication and competence.
Local Governments and Primary Education in Uganda
(Institute of Development Studies, 2017-03) Maractho, Emilly Comfort
Decentralisation was one of the major reforms in the 1990s in Uganda, geared towards improving democratic governance and service delivery. However, districts have had variable performance, especially in providing primary education through public schools. In this article, I ask what explains the difference in local governments’ performance across two districts that were given similar powers and share a similar history. I explore this through in-depth interviews in the two districts and find that llocal governments are severely constrained in their performance by a lack of funds, which, along with development priorities, are controlled by the central government. Within this scenario, variable performance is explained to a great extent by the presence of donors and investments by the private sector, but that these funds are attracted to areas where greater capacity exists. While this improves education performance, it can contribute to growing inequality in educational attainment across districts.
Men and maternal health: The dilemma of shortlived male involvement strategies in Uganda
(Routledge (Taylor and Francis), 2018) Mwije, Solomon
This article has been written to call for further attention to the importance of involving males in efforts to reduce maternal mortality. Since the 1995 International Conference on Population and Development [ICPD], institutional and community arrangements have been implemented in developing countries to engage males in maternal and child health promotions. The government of Uganda – in partnership with other health promotion institutions such as the United Nations agencies – has in the past decade formulated and implemented national and local strategies for male involvement in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). Nevertheless, strategies are such as Male Action Groups (MAGs) have been short-lived because the strategies within cannot by themselves work without ‘genuine’ acceptance at community levels where implementation takes place. Even acceptance alone is also not enough. Majority of males have more interest in economic than social endeavors. They have less interest to engage in maternal health promotion initiatives. Cultural based perceptions and behaviors associated with patriarchal tendencies remain the greatest challenge. Therefore, relevancy, functionality, adaptability, and sustainability in relation to the effectiveness of male involvement initiatives must be assessed before these interventions are initiated in such culturally diverse communities with different informal institutional arrangements. The individual, interpersonal and institutional contexts in which interventions operate matters. The article identifies relevant stakeholders and suggests, though not discussed in detail, strategies for improving stakeholders’ interests to respond to male involvement as a core issue in maternal health.
(Re)producing cultural narratives on women in public affairs programmes in Uganda
(Journal of African Media Studies, 2019) Maractho, Emilly Comfort
Ugandan women have made tremendous strides in public life, and hold strategic positions in politics and policy-making. This increased participation in public life is attributed to Uganda’s focused pro-women constitution and affirmative action policy. In spite of this progress, women’s visibility and voice remain limited in public affairs programming in Uganda. The article examines how mass media reproduce cultural narratives that affect women in Uganda. It is part of a larger study on representation, interaction and engagement of women and broadcast media in Uganda. It is framed within critical theory, in particular feminist thought, cultural studies and public sphere theory. The research is conducted using a multi-method approach that encompasses case study design, content analysis and grounded theory. The findings suggest that the media reproduce cultural narratives through programming that mirror traditional society view of women and exclude women’s political and public narratives. The interactive and participatory public affairs programming is increasingly important for democratic participation. While men actively engage with such programming, women have failed to utilize it for the mobilization of women, reconstruction of gender stereotypes and producing new argumentation that challenge problematic cultural narratives that dominate media and society.
Climate Risk Communication of Navigation Safety and Climate Conditions Over Lake Victoria Basin: Exploring Perceptions and Knowledge of Indigenous Communities
(Routledge, 2019-03-20) Kiwanuka-Tondo, James; Semazzi, Fredrick; Pettiway, Keon
Governmental and non-governmental organizations have increasingly developed climate services and products to improve safety on Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest and the world’s second-largest freshwater lake. Despite these efforts and other interests in efficient exploitation of natural resources, Lake Victoria is one of the most dangerous waterways in the world. Each year, around 5,000 people lose their lives on the lake due to navigation accidents. The purpose of this study is to analyze the perceptions of the stakeholders about climate change, meteorological services, causes of accidents, and cultural, social, and economic barriers that lead to a lack of safety of navigation on Lake Victoria. The study uses anecdotal interviews with a convenience sample of five participants and surveys research with a convenience sample of 316 respondents from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The study makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the multilayered ecological, socioeconomic, environmental, technological, and health-related factors that influence the safety of navigation on the lake by harnessing the indigenous knowledge of the stakeholders about their concerns and experiences. The authors assert and reaffirm the importance of integrating indigenous and scientific climate knowledge, offering strategies to enhance climate services and make technological products culturally relevant.
The Prevalence of HIV/AIDS Frames in Kenya Newspapers: A Summative Content Analysis of the Daily Nation
(Taylor & Francis, 2019-03-25) Kiwanuka-Tondo, James; Kiptinness, Evonne Mwangale
Kenya has one of the highest numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa (UNAIDS, 2018). The Kenyan media and most notably the Daily Nation play an important role in the social construction of HIV/AIDS nationally. This article uses the theory of media framing to understand the manner in which Kenyan newspapers make sense of the HIV/AIDS issue between the years 2011 and 2015. Specifically, this analysis focuses on multiple frames used by stakeholders with respect to the following topical categories (a) valence (positive/negative), (b) the action frame, (c) victim frame, (d) severity of HIV/AIDS in Kenya, (e) causes and solutions, and (f) beliefs about who is at risk. The findings show the action and victim frames to be most dominant. The group “other” was considered most at risk of contracting HIV, while positive valence was noted in most sampled articles.
Covering Migration—in Africa and Europe: Results from a Comparative Analysis of 11 Countries
(Routledge (Taylor and Francis), 2020-07-20) Fengler, Susanne; Bastian, Mariella; Brinkmann, Janis; Zappe, Anna Carina; Tatah, Veye; Andindilile, Michael; Assefa, Emrakeb; Chibita, Monica B.; Mbaine, Adolf; Obonyo, Levi; Quashigah, Timothy; Skleparis, Dimitris; Splendore, Sergio; Tadesse, Mathewos; Lengauer, Monika
While the issue of migration has heavily impacted on public debates in the Global North, much less is known about coverage of migration in the Global South. This pilot study sets out to dewesternize the discussion, by analyzing and comparing news coverage in migrants’ destination countries and countries of origin. The study’s focus is on media coverage of migration from Africa towards Europe. The paper builds upon prior studies on the coverage of migrants and refugees. A consortium of African and European researchers has conducted a comparative content analysis of migration coverage in 22 opinion-leading newspapers in six European and five sub-Sahara African countries. The study has retrieved 1,512 articles which have appeared in 2015/16. The topic was much less salient in African countries, with only 175 articles found in the African news outlets under study. Coveragein the European destination countries was dominated by domestic issues like border security and migration policy, but also paid attention to the actual migrants—who received much less coverage in the sending countries. Coverage of migration in African media was more negative and focused on disasters at sea. Both African and European media ignored the causes of migration

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