One of the often ignored roles in Ugandan media houses is the position of a public editor, or ombudsman, whose job would be to interface regularly with the readers, carry their feedback into the newsroom and bring pressure to bear on editors and reporters to be responsive to the audience’s feelings, which would in turn not only direct media houses and journalists to responsibility but also improve the quality of the journalism they produce. Ombudsmen, then, constitute a serious form of media accountability – the process by which media should be expected or obliged to report a truthful and complex account of the news to their constituents. Omdusdmen may not only help media to account, but also assist the media organizations and journalists gain credibility and trust from the public.
As Dvorkin (2011) has succinctly stated, trust is the essential lubricant that allows citizens to believe that their medium of choice is credible and reliable, even when they may disagree with the journalism. Trust is the common currency that media organizations require for their continued credibility.
As a matter of fact, very few media houses in Uganda have designated public editors, and not many journalism schools in the country, if any, focus on the crucial importance of ombudsmen or public editors as an essential component of journalism practice in their academic offerings at higher levels of learning. Yet the role of the Ombudsman as an internal check – a form of self-regulation – for a media house cannot be overemphasized.
There is evidence across global jurisdictions that media everywhere would benefit from having ombudsmen, both in terms of their relations with the public and for the good of their newsrooms.
Unfortunately because of fast changing technologies that have profoundly impacted media business models, such necessary offices like those of ombudsmen have suffered reduction in value or even been abolished altogether in some parts of the world, as this text will show subsequently.
In Uganda, according to interviews and focus group discussions undertaken during this study, very few media houses and journalists see need for public editors, while several others have never heard about the public editor; some do not see the need for such an office at all reasoning that what he/she does can be done by any other editor!
This is a contextually grounded Ombudsman Guide for use by news ombudsmen/public affairs editors and those assigned with responsibilities to engage audiences by their respective media houses in Uganda. The data collected for the Guide was obtained through document analysis, interviews with journalists, editors, civil society, academia and government officials. Focus group discussions were also done with journalists and members of the public based upcountry, particularly in West Nile, Northern Uganda and Karamoja region.