Museveni Tells Media Owners to Filter Falsehoods, Warns on Social Media Misuse

President Yoweri Museveni has tasked owners and managers of news organizations in Uganda to take it on themselves to filter information that is untrue and maligning other than be agents of the same vice.

He said this to a group of media executives and proprietors of news outlets that attended the Presidential Media Roundtable at State House Entebbe on Friday, the first of its kind.

The President whose remarks touched on an array of issues but most notably the role of the media in pushing for Pan Africanism and development of Uganda, also commented on the use of social media to spread falsehoods. He said government was going to crack the whip on such fake news and hate speech now that it has the capacity to do so.

“We are going to control it. We know who is spreading hate messages. We shall go for them. You must bring discipline in your systems,” Museveni said.

“You can see when somebody is telling a lie deliberately. You have a responsibility to filter information. You own and run the media,” he told the news managers in the discussion that lasted over 5 hours.

He asked the media to be part of the transformation process. He cautioned them against being on the wrong side of history or a problem to the continent.

“The media practitioners are supposed to inform if it’s informed, educate masses if they are educated themselves,” he said.

In their interaction, the media executives and owners presented some of their concerns to the President. TheseMuseveni Tells Media Owners to Filter Falsehoods, Warns on Social Media Misuse

President Yoweri Museveni has tasked owners and managers of news organizations in Uganda to take it on themselves to filter information that is untrue and maligning other than be agents of the same vice.

He said this to a group of media executives and proprietors of news outlets that attended the Presidential Media Roundtable at State House Entebbe on Friday, the first of its kind.

The President whose remarks touched on an array of issues but most notably the role of the media in pushing for Pan Africanism, also commented on the use of social media to spread falsehoods. He said government was going to crack the whip on such fake news and hate speech now that it has the capacity to do so.

“We are going to control it. We know who is spreading hate messages. We shall go for them. You must bring discipline in your systems,” Museveni said.

“You can see when somebody is telling a lie deliberately. You have a responsibility to filter information. You own and run the media,” he told the news managers in the discussion that lasted over 5 hours.

He asked the media to be part of the transformation process. He cautinoned them against being on the wrong side of history or a problem to your continent.

“The media can only inform if they are informed, educate the masses if they are educated themselves,” he said.

In their interaction, the media executives and owners presented some of their concerns to the President. These included the brutalization of journalists by police, the unwillingness of government officials to honor media invites to give the government side of the story as well as the unfairness in the issuance of licenses to news channels.

Regarding the issue of press freedoms, Museveni said that this brutality to journalists is unacceptable and should stop, and that the most that can be done is to confiscate journalists’ equipment.

In response to the issue of public servants who don’t show up for talkshows which creates unimbalanced political discussion, Museveni urged for auch programs to be time bound.

“These talk shows; when do people work? Should political talk shows be every hour? There is a difference between a talk show and hatred campaign,” he said.