Machrine « Uganda Radio Network

Here we go URN Photographers

The Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Uganda (FCAU) has announced plans to run a photography competition for Ugandan photojournalists in 2012. The winners, along with some of the Association members, will get a chance to showcase their work at a photo exhibition to be held in Kampala.

Michele Sibiloni, an AFP photojournalist who is organizing the competition, said, “There are many talented Ugandan photojournalists, and the exhibition will be a unique opportunity to promote our work together.”

The details of the competition will be posted on the FCAU website
(www.fcau.org) in the coming weeks. The photography competition is part of a wider plan to increase interaction between the association and journalists working for Ugandan media.

This was agreed at the Association’s second Annual General Meeting, held in Kampala.
At the meeting Joshua Mmali, BBC and Malcolm Webb, Aljazeera were re-elected as co-chairs, to lead an elected board that runs the Association and organizes events. The Association was founded in May
2011 and has since grown to nearly 30 members.

“Our first year was a great success and the association is moving from strength to strength. We’ve held several events, including off-record briefings with key newsmakers, which have proven to be a great forum for exchanging thoughts and ideas for both the journalists and the guests. We’re looking forward to hosting more briefings this year,”
Mmali said.

FCAU has also launched its website (www.fcau.org) that profiles some of the members and shows their journalistic work.

The Association provides networking opportunities for members and is a contact point for anyone who wants to reach foreign correspondents working in Uganda. Members are broadcast, print and photojournalists from a wide range of foreign media outlets including BBC, Aljazeera, Reuters and The New York Times.

ENDS

For further comment please contact Petri Burtsov, FCAU Communications Secretary
+256 (0) 791 788 175 [email protected]

“A picture is worth a thousand words” goes an old adage and a good picture does not require any accompanying story. It allows the reader to delve into their own world of imagination, draw out a context and interpret their own stories.

But a picture of a dead nude decomposing body is worth “a trillion emotions”.

While we strive to take dramatic pictures, telling pictures and pictures of happiness, conflict and death, two questions must stick in our minds.
• What is the purpose of the picture you are taking?
• For whom are you taking this picture?
• Who do you want to see this picture?
• And for what results?

What is the motive behind a photographer, who grabs his camera, rushes to a scene to capture real horrid pictures of a dead nude decomposing body? To put this question into context, let me refer to three pictures sent in this weekend from Fort-Portal linked to the pit sawyer murdered and buried in the saw waste.

The first picture showed the bulging, decomposing black man turned pink body, with all skin scaled off, lying vertically naked in the saw dust.

The second picture, a medium close up showed the swollen nude body, lying on top of the saw dust. Third image showed the body partly out of the saw dust but with the tree roots entrapping.

I must admit that a cold chill went running in my spine as soon as my curious eye pried over the first image. My moral self recoiled in horror. With shock and shame still spinning in my mind, I braved one more look at the pictures, for the sake of piecing up this article.

The three pictures depict what one of the writers has described as the “pornography of the suffering and the dead”.

The three images beg for the ethical and moral question of News reportage. Questions to the photographer- How would you react if you knew this man? How would you react of this man was your brother or even a relative? For what reason would you take this picture?

The commitment to tell the truth and to support the story that was already sent in and published should not override our need to be sensitive to the situations and people.

In the case of the three pictures, the photographer ought to have realized the need to be sensitive to the grieving family, respect for the dead, embarrassment of the deceased been pedaled naked for all to see.

To put this concern right, I want to allude to Ethic number four of the photographers;
• Treat all subjects with respect and dignity… intrude on the private moments of grief only when the public has a justifiable need to see.

Let’s not shun the pornography of the living and yet rejoice in taking pictures that glorify the pain of the deceased, the grieving, and the suffering. Cardinal rule. What’s the purpose of the picture you are taking? Who do you want to see that picture, what story does it tell.

Quote of the Week: “Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. – Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) was editor and publisher of the New York World and one of the great men of journalism of the 19th century.

Have a wonderful photography week.

Over, Over, Over…

On a high note this was a busy news week, not the striking and enterprising stories but some crime, disagreements, political stunts, and traders’ disgruntlements.

One of my new Years resolutions is to gently tighten my diction if only it can add a spark to the way we communicate.

There are a set of words that we constantly misused over the last year, someone is accused OF and not accused for…and I hope that each of us can find some time to reflect on them and actually cast them away to clean our writing act.

One of the words we have misused is “over”

We are aware of such sentences “He was arrested over Murder, “MP grilled over UGX 29m” “Police arrested over UGX 60,000 bribe”

I may sound like a reformed criminal talking tough against the crimes that I once committed, but I must say that some of the misused words actually add humor to my day.

But slowly and with the resolve to tighten our writing we can always go above the glitches of grammar.

Grammatically, the word “Over” can be used as a preposition meaning:
In a position above;
• There was a pretty doormat spread over the door step
• I took a stroll over the highway
• She scanned over his son’s school report.
• Won’t tell you over the phone.
• The director presided over the meeting
• Shall have a chat over a cup of tea

It can be used as an adverb:
• The cost of the dam is over the country’s annual budget.
• The milk spilled over
• He invited us over for a party

As an adjective, the word “Over” can apply as in this example: The dirty relationship is over now

Over can also be used as a verb as in this example: I am over the sickle cell attack and I feel happy today.

The exclusion of the word over does not detract or distort the sentence. He was arrested for murder; MP grilled in connection with a UGX 29m bribe.

My explanation may not be exhaustive but be encouraged to grab your dictionary and look up the word over.

Its not all over until its over

The URN Web style guide encourages us to refer to it to make our writing right, just as a preacher would refer to a bible to make his sermon bright.

Story Tips of the Week

Following last year’s high inflation and the tough economic times, the opening of the new school year is around the corner
• Visit popular schools in your areas and find out the difficult decisions the schools are struggling with.
• Find out the enrollment trends in some of the popular schools whose fees were hiked. Someone has the figures to give you a proper assessment of the enrolment trends.
• Talk to the head teachers on some specific budgetary adjustments
• Parents too must be dealing with difficult choices, -withdraw children from boarding or ?

Quote of the Week
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life, don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking…” Steve Jobs

Adieu, adieu, adieu 2011, the year of Walk to work protests, Oil and what more, yes the year of financial tectonic movements in the national economy, creating rifts in the financial state of households.

The editorial team wishes all our subscribers, readers, professional colleagues’ best wishes for a very happy and successful new year 2012.

We take a special moment to express our gratitude to our contributing reporters, bureau chiefs and freelance reporters for your invaluable contributions that have raised URN’s profile this year.

The turnaround this year has been significant. URN looks back and can strongly raise our voices and say “we made it”!.

URN prides itself on being a truly national news agency bringing a sustained coverage of major news events that rocked the Nation all year round.

In January, the combative political campaigns in Mwenge, Our reporters questioned the Electoral commission on the excess electoral ballot materials and why were yellow fever cards being shunned? We gave the answer.

In February, URN journalists and freelance reporters armed with notebooks, microphones and recorders, descended onto the polling stations and brought a comprehensive coverage of the national elections. It was both a roller coaster election, – Candidates moved door to door in last minute campaigns, in Sironko, polling officials were accused of ballot stuffing.

The election season was also adrenaline charged, – UPC’s Robert Kanusu raided a polling station and disrupted the elections there, and DP sought to block Bukomansimbi vote recount.

Can I say the elections were nerve racking too – perhaps if we look back at the 2000 voters that missed the elections in Butembe constituency.

For some Journalists it was a terrifying moment – journalists were beaten and armed gangs terrorized polling stations in Rubaga division and Moses Kasibante petitioned the high court to block a vote recount.

With no time to recover from the election fever, URN crossed to March and followed through the protests against the results. The Mukono North MP was sued for bribery, while the Kakuuto MP was dragged to court for forged academic papers.

April ushered in a historic protest- the Walk to work protests against High food and fuel prices spearheaded by Kiiza Besigye and URN brought the highs and lows of the protests.

The deaths, injuries, arrests, teargas etc. President Museveni was sworn on May 12th and URN brought the tits and bits including the low turn up, the parallel arrival of Besigye from Nairobi, and all the chaos that ensued.

With inflation rising and the economy tightening, June was a moment to reflect on the National Budget and what it meant for the local ordinary Ugandan.

In July our correspondent Regina Deng-Mayok in South Sudan witnessed and brought our readers the story of the birth of Africa’s and the World’s newest Nation South Sudan.

The UWA inquest into a multi-million shilling tourism project gone berserk was aptly covered between July and September and oh what a month of Oil.

October and November was dominated by the oil debate, not that Ugandans was already flowing with oil, but some fishy deals smelled and attracted the attention of some legislators. URN’s parliament reporters followed the story.

December is here and as we wade through to the new year, the URN editorial team and all those involved in the gathering, processing and dissemination of information not forgetting the administration, are determined to maintain and enhance the Status of URN as a leading News Agency in the country.

We however believe that this can be achieved with the continued patternship and cooperation between the staff, sources, subscribers and our loyal readers.

On behalf of the editorial team I would like to pledge our commitment to improve and promote our role and look forward to a fruitful 2012.
Happy New Year

Christmas and New Year holidays are one of the drought news seasons of the year, because for most news rooms, the news makers head for holidays. But for active reporters, the news clock does not stop ticking. Below are some of the story ideas that you could pick up and plough into your reporting to keep the holiday season alive and not dead. Get your creative news juices flowing this holiday!

Business

Find out the gloom and doom stories about general prices of basic commodities over the festive season?
Describe the mood of Christmas shoppers this season?
How do hotels plan to reap some money over the Christmas season? Any special packages?
Find out if there are any specific outstanding sales and promotions? And on what products and why?
Are abattoirs planning to stock up the number of animals they will slaughter for Christmas? At what cost? Find out the actions being taken to protect cows from thefts?
Visit a poultry farm in your area and find out what the farmers are doing to prepare for the Christmas sales.

Travel

Visit the taxi and bus parks. Are we seeing crowded taxi and bus parks? Price readjustments in transport fares?
What should passengers brace up for? What are transport companies doing to make sure that all passengers are served to satisfaction? Are the numbers of early holiday travellers increasing? check out the regional buses too.
Any security checks at the bus and taxi parks?
What about air travel? What are the trends this Christmas season? What are the specific airlines offering their fliers?
Can we find an expert to give us tips for safe travel over the festive season? We should not assume that everyone knows what to do?

Labour

Everybody would love to go home for Christmas and for the labour industry, such holiday’s impact on the delivery of basic services?
Profile the story of people that will be working on Christmas and boxing day- The long distance drivers, nurses, restaurateurs, a plumber and shopkeeper.

Emergencies and public safety
Christmas can create busy times for emergency rooms, from people overeating to food poisoning and accidents. Find out what emergency interventions are being put in place by the police and hospitals in your respective areas?

Will the Fire Stations remain open for emergency response? How are the causality wards being organized to handle emergencies?
Talk to the Red Cross society and find out their response strategy if any over the Christmas period? If there is non that is a story too…
How are hospitals ensuring an uninterrupted flow of services?
Number of robberies and thefts are bound to increase this season. Find out from the police the local trends and advice on how people should protect themselves from robbers?

Human Interest Stories

Can we get a story of a street child’s hopes for Christmas?
Can we spend a day with a homeless person on the December 24th. Wake up with them, find out what they will be thinking about on the 24th is it money? Food? Clothings? Handouts? Etc that they will be thinking about? Walk with them and get as much sound as you can.
file a story on a “Christmas Eve in the life of the homeless persons,”
Are there any organizations planning to provide food for the poor? Find out what it will cost them this year to fulfil this year? Talk to two or three people.
How is the current economic meltdown going to affect Christmas gift giving this year?
Visit the National and Local theatres and find out what is on offer this Christmas season?
Visit the churches and find out how the local choir are preparing? What new songs? Initiatives? Dramas …
Ask the bishops, priests, reverends about their Christmas homily messages and write short advance stories.

Stick to the issue: breathe life into the issue, show how it impacts your reader and let the readers give their opinions.
• Example: “the current debate on the public order bill is likely to affect the way people meet and deliberate pertinent issues….

• The influx of wild animals in the game park could soon spiral out of control and cause chaos in the villages neighboring the national park.

Avoid the Passive Voice: the passive voice kills the pace and flow of the story
• The decision to halt parliamentary proceedings was made by the speaker.

• The speaker decided to halt parliamentary proceedings.

Strip your story of Adverbs: adverbs are the pillar of weak writing. And as an editor I must confess I am sometimes guilty of allowing them pass, but that too out of laziness. These are word that end with –ly and many stories tend to be cluttered with such words.
• The robber fled quickly from the scene should instead be- the Robber fled the scene.

• He walked slowly out of the meeting – He sneaked out of the room.

Avoid Redundancy: if you ever said; “they want to replace the broken down culverts, you are redundant, unless you have broken up culverts.
Use
• Sued instead of dragged to court.

• Will appear in court instead of will face the law

Finally read your story aloud to get a sense of how it sounds to the ear.

Quote of the week: The road to death is all paved with adverbs…slowly, painfully, heartily, tearfully …

URN Reporters Brian Luwaga and Emmanuel Kajubu took up the editorial mantle and succeeded to sniff and weed out the chaff that keeps crawling into the stories.
The statements in bold appeared in stories filed over the past two weeks.

Emmanuel Kajubu, URN’s Bureau Chief in Fort-Portal took the editors surgical tools and made the following operation;

These are my comments, if i was an editor.
Fire gutted down … The statement should have read, Fire gutted. Not everything
that is gutted by fire goes down.
• Good worth unspecified amount of money …the amount of money should be included.
• Speaking to journalists in a conversation …speaking and conversing have the
same meaning.
• Luggage being transported inside the bus boots … Buses don’t wear boots. The correct statement should have been luggage transported in the cabin or boot of the bus.
• In a suite filed by …suites are rooms in big hotels while a legal suit is
filed against someone in a court of law.
• Buses are being modified to curry goods …It should be carry goods. Curry
means sauce cooked with spices.
• Congolese soldiers waylaid a roadblock …It should have read, Congolese
soldiers were waylaid at a roadblock. Actually the correct statement should have been they staged a roadblock. A roadblock is staged or mounted but not made or waylaid.
• Electricity electrocuted one …There is no need to include electricity because
electrocuted means to be killed by electricity.
• In his urology …urology means surgery done on the male and female urinary
tracts. I think the reporter meant Eulogy which is a speech praising a deceased
person.
• A section of members of the opposition … a section means something that has
been divided into parts. The statement should have read: some members of the
opposition.

Brian Luwaga, URNs Bureau chief in Luweero entered the editorial suite and made the following observations
Repeations, misspelled and misplacement of words for example;

Speaking to journalists in conversation – speaking to/conversation means the same.
A section of members of opposition – i dont think the word section applies to human beings.

“On the reporter side, I think there is rush to submit stories and we need to double check our stories for number times and answer the questions that may arise from the readers,” said Brian.

Kudos to Emmanuel and Brian. Their efforts show that each of us has a potential to make our stories cleaner if only we can pick the passion to learn something, read something and challenge ourselves to achieve the best. In writing as in reporting, the challenge is to take try as much as possible to sniff out the chaff and take on different eyes to see the words from different perspectives.

One more statement is the way we continue to use or misuse the word Accused. We are accused of failing to read the URN digests to improve our writing. We are not accused for.

Story Ideas
Recently I posted a story on Hospital infections in African hospitals; these are infections that are acquired from hospitals. A patient goes in the hospital with one disease and comes out with another or two. I thought this was interesting enough to stir interest. Take a visit to the hospital and find out the state in terms of hygiene, water access, and food preparation. Look at the water sources for the patient…is the water treated? Is it clean water? What are the patient’s concerns? They are sleeping on floors, what infections are they being exposed to?

Can we track a patient who acquired an infection from the hospital? Such a patient could give context to your story.

Talk to the doctors and find out the trends in hospital infections? Have there been any significant changes over the past five years? What is being done to contain the infections? and at what cost?

Quote of the Week
Journalism is organized gossip

This time last week I was reading stories, which gave me a cocktail of smiles, whins, and droops. Yes that right, stripping stories of tired out, worn out and fatigued statements.

Jump straight into the editors shoes and give your comments on the following statements that appeared in some of our most read stories this week.

• Fire gutted down …
• Good worth unspecified amount of money …
• Speaking to journalists in a conversation …
• Luggage being transported inside the bus boots …
• In a suite filed by …
• Buses are being modified to curry goods …
• Congolese soldiers waylaid a roadblock …
• Electricity electrocuted one …
• In his urology …
• A section of members of the opposition …

Your reactions, comments, corrections and concerns will be compiled into the next edition and all credits will be given.

Story Tips of the Week
November 14th: World Diabetes day.
• What is the story in your region?
• Any striking individual stories of pain and survival?
• What kind of services is available for diabetics in your region? Any grants or funding for diabetics services in your regions hospitals?
• Prevention measures a doctor’s perspective?

November 20th: World day for remembrance of road traffic accident victims
• We all know that there are some highways that have puple cross marks in memory of the people that have died at those black spots. Go back and guage people’s reaction to the signs.
• Time to review the road traffic accident statistics in your region
• Story from a road traffic survivor whose life has been either confined in hospital or wheel chairs

Quote of the week
“There are no dull subjects, there are only dull writers”. Mencken H.L

It’s another week again to review our stories and dig out the words that are misused, abused and overused. As an editor, I don’t want to spend 30 minutes or even hold onto the story for a day just to give it a good clean up and polish.

What do the words affect and effect have in common? Well perhaps they sound the same but they mean two different things altogether. I must say that any proficient editor would get bent out of shape over a few misused words in a story.

Just a few of the statements picked randomly from the stories filed this week.

• “The group was compromised of five people”, a group is comprised of …
• “Don’t wait for disasters to swing into action” disasters occur they are not live human beings and we don’t expect them to swing into action. …
• “He refuted claims that he was involved in the robbery…” to refute does not mean to deny, but rather to prove that you didn’t do something with evidence. So in the next line I would expect documentary evidence.

I have alluded to the Writing and Editing Committee of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association which prepared a list of common news writing errors. The list has been edited and condensed for this article.

Affect, effect: Generally, affect is the verb; effect is the noun. „The letter did not affect the outcome.
„The letter had significant effect, But effect is also a verb meaning to bring about. Thus: „It is almost impossible to effect change.

Afterward, afterwards: Use afterward. The same rule applies to toward and towards, backward and backwards, and forward and forwards. Use toward, backward and forward.

Allude, elude: Allude means to mention; elude means to escape.

Annual: Do not use „first with it. If it’s the first time, it cannot be annual.
Averse, adverse: Averse means to oppose; adverse means unfavorable.

Compose, comprise: The parts compose the whole; the whole comprises (or contains) the parts.

Cop: It is often a derogatory term for police officer so unless in the headlines, the word cop ought not be used in the main body of the story.

Demolish, destroy: They both mean to do away with completely. Totally or completely destroyed is redundant.
Drown: Do not write someone was drowned unless an assailant held the victims head under water. Just write the victim drowned.

Due to, Owing to, Because of: it is ideal to use the last;
• Wrong: the football match was cancelled due to rain.
• Right: the football match was cancelled because of rain.

Entitled, titled: Entitled means to have a right to do something; titled means to have a title.

Funeral service: this is A redundancy because a funeral is a service so just write “ a funeral was held.

Imply, infer: The speaker implies; the hearer infers.

Kids: kids are offspings of goats just like babies are offspings of human beings. Avoid using it as a synonym for children unless the story dictates a less formal usage.

Lay, lie: Lay is a transitive verb meaning to put or to place; lie is an intransitive verb meaning to be in a reclining position.
• WRONG: The body will lay in state until Wednesday.
• RIGHT: The body will lie in state until Wednesday.
• RIGHT: The prosecutor tried to lay the blame on him.

Less, fewer: If you can separate items in the quantities being compared, use fewer. If not, use less.

Over, more than: Over refers to spatial relationships: The plane flew over the city. More than is used with figures: More than 1,000 fans were in the crowd. So avoid using over 10 people were killed in an accident.

Peddle, pedal: When selling something, you peddle it. Pedal is something you do to a bicycle.

Principle, principal: A guiding rule or basic truth is a principle. The first, dominant or leading thing is principal.

Refute: The word connotes success in argument and must be backed with evidence to prove an argument.

Reluctant, reticent: If someone does not want to act, that person is reluctant. If someone does not want to speak, that person is reticent.

Temperatures: They may get higher or lower, but they do not get warmer or colder.

Quote of the week
“The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. To a degree, people read the press to inform themselves and the better the teacher, the better the student body”.

Comments and all forms of feedback welcome.

One reporter admitted, that despite being a smart reporter, getting the right and good angle for the story remains one of his major challenges.

Just as an athlete takes in a deep breath to prepare for an energetic race, so should a reporter preparing to write a striking story, take an extra step to weave all the scattered ideas into a crispy, fresh seductive angle to the story. The story must seduce your editor, readers and peers.

Ask yourself; will your readers find this story interesting, informative, and educative? Entertaining, interesting or even useful? But above all, can your story be talked about, or even serve as a point of reference in a conversation?

The magic to getting a great angle for your story is take the extra step – Read and research and use the six senses to explore a fresh perspective. The tips below are not exhaustive but intended to serve as a launch pad for rolling out your angles.

Use different lenses to look at an issue: Identify an issue and wear at least three different lenses to enable you get different perspectives on the story.

Example one: original idea: Teenage pregnancies
• Statistical lense- what are the statistics at the community level? What are the statistics at national and international levels?

• Law Lense: Is there any law or by-law on teenage pregnancies? What are the rules about teenage pregnancies in at least three schools in your area? Are the rules similar? At what point do they defer?

• Economic Lense: how do teenage pregnancies impact on the economic state of families, communities, schools and the nation?

Find a topical twist to a seasonal story: Give an old told story a new topical twist that is relevant to your audience. This can be achieved by looking at your story through the eyes of different groups of people – by gender, class, religious leaders, businessmen, professors etc.
Example: PLE Begins
• How do professors view the current testing of primary school leavers?

• What impact does the examinations season have on the children, parents and traders in your area?

Transform an international story into a local one: Example: World Population Clocks 7 billion in four days time
• What will be the size of the population in your country? • What will the size of your district’s population be when the global pop clocks 7billion?
• What initiatives are being put in place to control population explosion in your community, district etc?

Keep the focus: Once you have narrowed down the right angle, keep it focused, remember to allow the listeners know why the story is relevant and why they should care.
Add positives to negatives. One way of getting a striking angle is by combining the positives and negatives and you will surely get a spark.
Example: The construction of a new bridge in Hoima will ease transport for the farmers, but wait a minute, what will be the impact of this construction on the environment? The communities living in the area?

No Comments is News too
Twist the “no comment into a news angle” to get a source talking to you. For example the failure by the ministry of animal husbandry to revisit the livestock market that has been rejected, could be treated with a whole new perspective: Ministry drags feet on Livestock market. “One year after cattle herders rejected a shoddily constructed market, the ministry of … is still dragging its feet on addressing the herder’s issues …”

Petty peeves
This story was submitted by a reporter at one of the media outlets- Does it mirror any image to you?

“An investigating committee of 7 MPs has been put in place to investigate over alleged ministers who are said to have received bribe from Tallow oil co”. This follows after Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, HIllary Onek, Sam Kutesa are said to have received bribery from Tallow Oil co which they denay. The investment committee includes Wuseyini Kyanjo, Sesiriya Ogwaro, Tashobya Stephen etc”.

Quote of the week
“In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”– Eric Hoffer

Comments, observations and criticisms: [email protected]

Author Archives: Machrine

Photography Competition for Ugandan PhotoJournalists

URN News Digest Vol No. 012: – Photography versus Pornography of the Dead

URN News Digest Vol No. 011: Over, Over and Over

URN News Digest Vol 010: Adieu 2011, Happy New Year

URN News Digest Vol 009: Christmas Season News Story Ideas

URN News Digest Vol 008: Habits of Effective News Writers

URN News Digest Vol 007: Bureau Chiefs Brian and Emma Take the Editorial Mantle

URN News Digest Vol No. 006: Deal Droopy Statements a Blow

URN News Digest Vol No. 005: Common News Writing Errors to Avoid

URN News Digest Vol No 004: How to find seductive News Angles