INTRODUCTION: ISSUE STATEMENT AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGYProblem Statement
To say that mass media development in Uganda has been retarded may overstate the positive aspects of the issue. In the early 1990s, there is in Uganda, a country with a population approximating 18 million, (1) one television set for every 178 persons, (2) one radio for each 46 persons, and (3) the daily newspaper circulation in the country is two for each one thousand persons.1
Private control of mass media did not survive Ugandan political independence from Britain. The electronic mass media are state monopolies in Uganda by constitutional provision.2 While contesting power groups in Uganda have demonstrated a consistent willingness to ignore the country's constitution in efforts to gain political control, they have all proven to be equally consistent, once in power, in upholding that provision of the law making the electronic mass media state monopolies. The private ownership of newspapers is permitted under the Ugandan constitution. Without foreign capital or political party or governmental sponsorship, however, newspapers have been unable to remain viable in Uganda.
1John A. Lent, (Ed.), Global Guide to Media and Communications (London: George Kinnar Reference Books, 1990), 791; John Paxton, (Ed.), The Statesman's Year Book 1991 1992, 128th ed. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991), 842.
2Graham Mytton, Mass Communication in Africa (London: Edward Arnold Publishers, 1983), 78.
The proposed research study will trace the historical development of the mass media in Uganda from 1962, the year in which Uganda gained its political independence from Britain, to 1991. As a part of the proposed research, reasons for the slow pace of mass media development in Uganda generally will be sought; comparisons of mass media development in Uganda and neighboring East African countries will be made; and an assessment will be made of the effects on the count...