Resisting Media Capture: Mobilizing for Media Freedom in Uganda

Carl-Magnus Höglund, Johan Karlsson Schaffer
{"title":"Resisting Media Capture: Mobilizing for Media Freedom in Uganda","authors":"Carl-Magnus Höglund, Johan Karlsson Schaffer","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3912443","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"How can journalist groups and media organizations challenge media capture? Previous research has documented how governments in authoritarian contexts seek to control and dominate the media sector by, for instance, introducing laws and regulations that limit free speech, corrupting licensing systems, and directing government funding and advertisement to loyal media outlets. In Uganda – as in several other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa – government liberalized the media sector in the early 1990s and passed a new constitution that guarantees press freedom, but has since tightened its control of independent media through a range of legislative and regulatory measures as well as outright assaults on individual journalists. However, this raises questions about how the primary targets of such capture – journalists, press freedom groups and media houses – respond to and seek to resist media capture. In this paper, we seek to explain how journalist groups and media organizations can challenge government attempts to subvert independent media. Drawing on original fieldwork data, including a set of semi-structured interviews with journalists and media freedom activists in Uganda, we analyze mobilization strategies to counter government attempts to control the media sector. We tentatively conclude that the media sector as a collective in some cases has been able to push back government control attempts. However, since media houses and journalists in general suffer material and economic deprivation, successful resistance requires combining legal mobilization with other forms of contention.","PeriodicalId":378066,"journal":{"name":"PSN: Communications (Topic)","volume":"37 10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2021-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"PSN: Communications (Topic)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3912443","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

How can journalist groups and media organizations challenge media capture? Previous research has documented how governments in authoritarian contexts seek to control and dominate the media sector by, for instance, introducing laws and regulations that limit free speech, corrupting licensing systems, and directing government funding and advertisement to loyal media outlets. In Uganda – as in several other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa – government liberalized the media sector in the early 1990s and passed a new constitution that guarantees press freedom, but has since tightened its control of independent media through a range of legislative and regulatory measures as well as outright assaults on individual journalists. However, this raises questions about how the primary targets of such capture – journalists, press freedom groups and media houses – respond to and seek to resist media capture. In this paper, we seek to explain how journalist groups and media organizations can challenge government attempts to subvert independent media. Drawing on original fieldwork data, including a set of semi-structured interviews with journalists and media freedom activists in Uganda, we analyze mobilization strategies to counter government attempts to control the media sector. We tentatively conclude that the media sector as a collective in some cases has been able to push back government control attempts. However, since media houses and journalists in general suffer material and economic deprivation, successful resistance requires combining legal mobilization with other forms of contention.
查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
抵制媒体占领:动员乌干达媒体自由
记者团体和媒体组织如何挑战媒体捕获?以前的研究已经记录了专制政府如何通过引入限制言论自由的法律法规、腐败的许可制度、将政府资金和广告引向忠诚的媒体机构等方式来寻求控制和支配媒体部门。与撒哈拉以南非洲的其他几个国家一样,乌干达政府在20世纪90年代初放开了媒体部门,并通过了一部保障新闻自由的新宪法,但此后通过一系列立法和监管措施加强了对独立媒体的控制,并公然攻击个别记者。然而,这就提出了一个问题,即这种捕获的主要目标- -记者、新闻自由团体和媒体机构- -如何应对和设法抵制媒体捕获。在本文中,我们试图解释记者团体和媒体组织如何挑战政府颠覆独立媒体的企图。根据原始的实地调查数据,包括对乌干达记者和媒体自由活动家的半结构化访谈,我们分析了对抗政府控制媒体部门企图的动员策略。我们初步得出结论,在某些情况下,媒体部门作为一个集体能够击退政府的控制企图。然而,由于新闻机构和记者一般都遭受物质和经济上的剥夺,成功的抵抗需要将法律动员与其他形式的争论结合起来。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
来源期刊
自引率
0.00%
发文量
0
期刊最新文献
A Little is Not Enough: How Flexibility Affects Resource Allocation and Outcomes Internet Exposure and Social Capital Resisting Media Capture: Mobilizing for Media Freedom in Uganda Congestion on the Information Superhighway: Does Economics Have a Working Papers Problem? FreeStream
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1