By Daudi Zirimala
Ugandans have been urged to honor the critical role that media is play in society, particularly in this time of crisis because they are and have always been an important bridge between government and citizens.
According to Non-Governmental Organisation Twaweza, media is channel of verified and balanced information which is enabling citizens to make informed decisions about the on going situation. They add that the media has done a tremendous job by covering hard to reach areas and painting a picture of how a cross section of citizens are surviving during this pandemic.
Twawenza outlines a few statistical findings from their a study made on a cross section of the public.The findings revealed that 58% of the Ugandans believe journalists are professional, while 56% believe that media is providing accurate information, 51% of the public thinks media tells the truth to powerful people and 49% of the public think journalists are non partisan, 43% think that journalists are acting with integrity or are avoiding corruption, 53% say they would be proud if their children became journalists.
These findings were released by Twaweza to ahead of World Press Freedom Day which is slated to happen on Sunday 3rd, May.
The research was based on data from Sauti za Wananchi, Africa’s first nationally representative high-frequency mobile phone survey.