The Media's Influence on Uganda's Security Sector Reforms: An Analysis of a Few Broadcast and Print Media Stations in Kampala

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate how the media and other external variables influenced Uganda's security sector reform. The study especially looked at the several ways that Uganda's media shaped the country's security sector reforms, noted the difficulties that the media in Uganda experienced in implementing these reforms, and determined the other elements that affected Uganda's security sector reform. The study population included Kampala city residents, security personnel, and media personnel. This study used a quantitative, descriptive, and correlative research approach to investigate how the media and other factors shaped the security sector changes. Conversely, a qualitative method was applied to evaluate the difficulties encountered by the media, involving the collection of data through in-depth interviews with journalists. According to the study's findings, the mass media—that is, radio, television, and print—accounted for 47.9% of the security sector's performance (adjusted R2 = 0.479). This indicates that other factors not taken into consideration by this model accounted for 52.1% of the contribution. Nonetheless, just two media outlets—radio (β = 0.568, p = 0.000 < 0.05) and television broadcasting (β = 0.271, p = 0.004 < 0.05)—had a positive and noteworthy impact on the security sector's performance in Uganda, whereas print media (β = -0.090, p = 0.312 < 0.05) had a negative and negligible impact. The results of the journalist interviews also showed that, despite the media's beneficial influence on the performance of the security sector, the media in Uganda has certain obstacles to reforming the security sector. The primary obstacles identified by the interviewees were the absence of legal provisions or instruments that enable journalists to obtain information, coupled with the preservation of antiquated laws on statute books that restrict access, bureaucratic red tape in government, insufficient funding and institutional bureaucracy, political violence, and inadequate training. The results of the study showed that, as 45.2% of the data showed, there is a positive correlation between the other parameters and the performance of the security sector (p = 0.05). These other elements include company culture, resource availability, and leadership. This means that, despite a number of restrictions and laws put in place by governments to restrict media impact, the Ugandan media does its function. The study also comes to the conclusion that performance in the security industry is influenced by other factors. The report suggests that in order to enhance their effectiveness, the UPDF and UPF, which are the main security agencies, should rebrandtheir organizational culture, leadership, and structure. Keywords: Media, security sector, Uganda, Broadcast, Reform