UGANDA
By David Balikowa, Managing Editor, The Monitor Publications
24 February 2003

The Ugandan press
Uganda - with a population of 25 million people - has two major English daily newspapers; The Monitor, which is the leading independent daily; and the state-owned New Vision.

Despite the ban on party politics, the media remains relatively free and vibrant. This media activism is however hampered by the presence on the books of obsolete laws of sedition, libel, publication of false news, and criminal defamation. The bad laws are often conveniently used to harass, arrest, and subject journalists to long and costly trials, in addition to the prohibitive taxes and withholding government advertisement.

In one of the latest acts of muzzling the media, The Monitor newspaper was on October 10, 2002 shut down and its offices occupied by security for seven days over a story the government disputed.