Report Bosses Demanding Sex for Jobs – Female Journalists Told

By Joshua Nahamya for The Pearl Times

MBARARA CITY – Female journalists have been tipped on promoting ethical reporting and exhibiting professional conduct within the media landscape if they are to compete favourably with male journalists.

At a media café held at Acacia hotel in Mbarara, participants stressed the importance of journalists acting as responsible stewards of information, ensuring accuracy and fairness in their reporting.

Women in journalism under their umbrella body, Women in Media Association (WOMA), organized the media café in partnership with Citizens Coalition for independent media (CCIME).

“As journalists, avoid bias in news. Strive for objectivity, impartiality, balance, and fairness in your reporting,” said Coslin Nakayiira Agasaro, who is attached to Nation Media.

Agasaro also noted that on several occasions, women in media face stigma and others drop off from work due to sexual harassment and violence.

“We face sexual abuse not only in the field but even at our places of work. For example, if you look at the number of female interns, a few of them make it to the field because of fear to be harassed in the field while some of them are denied field opportunities,” she said, adding that male bosses were increasingly getting biased against most female interns and journalists because they refuse to give in to their sexual advances.

Through WOMA, Nakayiira challenged the government and media house owners to address issues faced by women in the media to level the ground for them to operate competitively with the men. “Let’s work together to empower female journalists to also have a levelled ground in media practice,” she said.

She also encouraged female journalists to stand firm, independent and stick to the truth rather than being lured into sex for jobs, which poses risks to their lives. “We are telling our colleagues to stand bold and say no to sexual harassment. In case of anything let them report to us but don’t open your legs for every man just to protect the job,” said Agasaro.

She added that some media houses do not pay workers which makes them prone to being compromised in the field leading to imbalanced reporting, contrary to the ethics of the profession.

“We encourage women in the media who face such challenges to reach us as WOMA. We shall listen to your challenges and support you to get justice because we have a legal team in our association ready to pursue cases against female journalists in courts of law,” she noted.

On her part, Praise Rukundo, legal and protection officer at WOMA, said the new association on board is meant to promote gender balance in media through networking, professional development and advocacy to have a society where women are also fully represented.

“Why we are coming in as WOMA is to advocate for the rights of women in the media so that they can be considered during several opportunities in media houses and even their slots can be increased for equal representation in the media,” said Rukundo.

She called upon media owners to promote gender equality rather than gender discrimination and sexual abuse among other forms of violence against female journalists at places of work.

She said that women in media can also be content creators thus challenging media owners to always give them space to represent people in their respective societies.

“We are partnering with the citizen coalition for independent media (CCIME) to have a democratic society where everybody is well governed, informed and empowered. What a man can do even a woman can do it better,” said Rukundo, adding that through WOMA, “all women in media are willing to partner with all the media houses to create a civic space that will help to mobilise women at the grassroot to have their voice.”

“Our mission is to promote freedom of assembly and expression as stipulated in the 1995 Ugandan constitution under article 29 which talks about the freedom of expression, assembly and association,” she continued.

“As WOMA, we are willing to pattern with all media houses, to create civic space as a strategy to guarantee freedom of expression, security, safety and protection of female journalists against any forms of violence, intimidation and harassment when they are doing their work. Therefore we call upon the public to be part of us to fight gender inequality and discrimination against women and girls in the media.”

Adella Orishaba, a member of WOMA, challenged women in the media to report issues concerning women in societies. “How will the media houses respect us as women when you yourselves go to the field and interview men thinking that they are articulate at giving information when women can even do better? However I also challenge women in societies to stop being media shy,” said Orishaba.

She also challenged the media houses to create civic space to promote positive narratives about women and the role they play in societies.

“You find a radio talk show that is full of men even discussing issues concerning women, so media houses don’t give space to the women to express their freedom of speech. If it is a talk show, why don’t you include the women?  Together we can to transform the societies,” she explained.

Orishaba also appealed to the public to stop stigmatizing female journalists especially in electronic media. “You post your story on social media to earn more sources and followers but you find that you are abused like nothing else which demoralizes us in the media,” she said.

Orishaba added that they will sensitise and equip female journalists with security measures on how to handle some of the risks in the field they face while executing their work.

“As female journalists, we realised that as female journalists we need to have a supportive network with other journalists across the world to share information and also see how we can help each other in case of any challenge,” she said.

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