By Jumah Kakomo|
The government says the emergency of technology has greatly led to misleading the public with fake information globally.
This was revealed by the minister for information, communication, technology and national guidance Dr. Chris Baryomunsi on Wednesday while delivering his remarks during the celebration of World press Freedom Day at Kampala which is marked on 3 of May every year.
In 1993, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 3 May as World Press Freedom Day. This proclamation marked the beginning of substantial progress towards enabling a free press and freedom of expression around the world with the proliferation of independent media in many countries and the rise of digital technologies enabling the free flow of information online.
Therefore, World press Freedom Day is celebrated on 3 of May every year, and this year’s theme for the day has been “Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights” signifying the enabling element of freedom of expression to enjoy and protect all other human rights.
The minister for information, communication, technology and national guidance Dr. Chris Baryomunsi says despite much efforts put in by the government to promote freedom of expression, social media has a lot of influence to mislead the public thus putting the country at stake.
“In local media we do have rules and laws governing the execution of media which doesn’t apply to social media leading to the publication of hate speeches “he added.
He says that is why even some social media platforms were closed by the government such as Facebook, but they are currently in negotiations with line government agencies to regenerate it.
He has also expressed a great concern over working conditions of journalists saying its poor leading to publication of substandard news, however he appealed to all media practitioners to execute their work ethically.
“Despite various challenges the media passes through, you have to apply ethics to avoid the repercussions from the state and other individuals” he said.
Director of monitoring and inspections at Uganda human rights commission (UHRC) Ruth Ssekindi, has called upon other state agencies including parliament to utilize a collective effort as a tool to promote human rights to ensure an immense rapport both intrinsically and extrinsically.
Violah Ajok, a senior programme manager, American Bar Association (ABA-ROLI) says the rapport between practicing media and security agencies is still unfriendly thus putting the execution of media work at stake.
“Sometimes media face themselves in danger while executing their work due to various threats from security agencies leading to the production of substandard work” she added.
As already mentioned above, World press Freedom Day is celebrated on 3 of May every year, following the declaration of UN General Assembly in 1993.
