Writer: Odoobo C. Bichachi. PHOTO/COURTESY
Many observers continue to note the reducing space in media platforms for “local news” in favour of “national news”, “business news/corporate news”, “commercials” (advertising), and “international news”. Some have argued, though, that this may be just an issue of labelling; that ultimately all news is local in one way or the other.
Still, labelling does drive perceptions! Looking at two editions of Daily Monitor and New Vision this week, (Tuesday October 29 and Wednesday October 30), what is labelled as local news [aka regional news or community news] amounted to on average two pages in both editions out of an average pagination of 40 pages. That’s a huge gap!
Can the same be said of the broadcast media? Yes and no! Many Ugandan FM radios simply lift content from newspapers or online and read it top of the hour as “their” news.
The radios cannot, therefore, be counted as originators of news so their treatment of local news, especially in as far as space allocation is concerned, can’t be accurately evaluated. Television on the other hand is an active collector and processor of news so a fair assessment can be made of it. From a general perspective, Uganda TVs tend to give a lot more space to local news.
Indeed the popular news bulletins with the highest viewership are those that have been branded local: Akawungeezi, Agatalikonfufu, Agacwencire, etc are the typical news programmes airing in the evening.
Reduction in local news coverage is not just a Ugandan problem, it is a global journalism issue. Why is local news seemingly receding? For Uganda newspapers, several reasons account for this and one of them is the cost of collecting news upcountry, and the other is that up to 80 per cent of newspapers are sold in the capital Kampala and only few copies are sold in upcountry towns and villages. Newspapers therefore tend to focus more on the Kampala audience.
Critics have argued that this imbalance, while largely economic, is also reinforced by content choices. Audiences upcountry have very little to read about themselves in newspapers, hence are less inclined to buy copies. This perpetuates the circulation imbalance.
TVs on the other hand seem to have more eyeballs upcountry works which works for them in attracting advertising, hence segmenting their news bulletins better. Thus the predominantly local news bulletins referred to above tend to be longer and more graphic than the urbane news bulletins typically running at 9 pm.
How sustainable this is in the face of declining revenues across the industry is the big question.
It is important to note that the news gathering network through bureaus, correspondents and stringers that both print and broadcast use to source news around the country has diminished compared to what it was many years ago. This reinforces the disparity in coverage and entrenches “news deserts” in communities and around the country. Anyhow, what do we miss when the media does not cover enough local news?
While we may wish to project ourselves as today global citizens, US journalist Alison Hill notes that ultimately, “We don’t live in a global community, we don’t live online (not physically at least) and we don’t even live in a ‘country’ per se. We live in small communities within our country, whether it’s a city, town, village, or neighborhood. Wherever you call home—that’s your square mile.
”When the media doesn’t cover our “square mile”, we miss holding local authorities to account. We miss seeing what we do in our communities projected at national level. We miss projecting local voices beyond the villages or households. We miss learning from the challenges and success of each other shared in the news. Ms Hill further points out five reasons why local news is important: Local journalism is a great training ground for rookies and gives local people a voice!
Local journalism encourages civic engagement
Local journalism covers important and relevant regional news
Local journalism provides a strong sense of community
Local journalism promotes local culture
So, the long and short is, “Local news is an essential lever to a healthy democracy; it helps communities understand what’s at stake in local elections, equips them to get involved in the political process by voting, contacting officials and running for office, reduces political polarisation, and holds public officials accountable.” - www.theajp.orgbyline-credit:
