Compiled by: Laila Ndagire
Am extremely happy that Uganda Media Women’s Association, UMWA has engaged us for a two day training. For the first time, I have interacted with journalists from different media houses and also got tips on how to work with them. I have been having a gap between me and the media but after this engagement am going to utilize the media very well.
I have been organizing activities in my constituency for example, giving out bursaries to children, doing general cleanliness and garbage collection, but I have not been inviting the media to cover the events because I used to fear them thinking that they will ask me for money. However, during the interactive discussion, they have told us that they don’t ask for money but rather want to get stories to inform the public. I thank the journalists for being open minded and assuring us that they don’t ask for money to publish our stories. I have got many contacts of journalists from different media houses and am going to start inviting them to all activities.
The training on effective media use has equipped me with knowledge and tips on how to present myself in the media. I had a weakness of going for radio programs and didn’t have knowledge on how to present myself for a Radio or Television program starting from the dress code, sitting posture and how to be audible. The facilitators have informed us that when you are invited for a program, always ask for the topic of discussion and do enough research on the topic before going for the program, time keeping is also very important, arrive at the station at least 30 minutes before the program and meet with the presenter before the program starts. I used to just get excited with being hosted and sometimes I would go without knowing the topic we are going to discuss. I also didn’t know the structure of media houses and how they operate and at times I would get annoyed when a journalist covered us in council but our story didn’t air. Now I know that it’s the editor in charge of what story goes on air and not the reporter, and that a story is dropped by the editor if the content given is not relevant. Therefore am going to be more deliberate, give facts on issues at hand and be available whenever I get a chance to speak to a journalist.
Abalo Irene Okana, Councillor Westland A Municipal Council – Kitgum
The training has been very impactful because as female councilors, we were fearing journalists thinking they are going to intimidate, harass us and report on us negatively but this dialogue has removed all the fear we had and has taught us that we are supposed to work together with the media.
I was once hosted on radio and the experience the first time was not easy, the fear in me was too much I used to think that when you make a mistake you will be arrested, you have to be very careful of what to speak. However, even though the presenter welcomed me well and the environment was friendly I performed poorly because I lacked information on how to get ready for a program. Am glad I have got that today through the training.
I have learnt from the training that culture has affected us more as women and as female leaders than men. We should leave the cultural differences, stand up and uplift the voices of the women we represent and should work hand in hand with the journalists to ensure that our message is sent out to the audience.
I was surprised, I didn’t know that I was a source of information, I would not avail myself for interviews thinking that male councilors were more informed and better than me, but I got to know that I have to work hard and be available all the time with information concerning my constituency so that it can be disseminated through the media.
Am going to start advocating for issues hindering women in my constituency, for example, gender based violence is on a rise and also ensure that I participate in the formulation of policies in the council. This will benefit people in my constituency because am their voice while in the council as we get solutions for the problems as well.
I have got a number of contacts of journalists from different media houses, am going look out for them, instead of waiting for them to reach out me, engage them whenever I have issues to address in my constituency and also be available for an interview after every Council meeting.
This training being the first of its kind in Kitgum, I request Uganda Media Women’s Association to come back at least on a quarterly basis or once a year and provide us with more skills as women leaders because we are really doing badly in terms of utilization of the media and communication skills.
The training organized by Uganda Media Women’s Association has been so fruitful. I have learnt a lot of things but what has touched me most is that there are many negative perceptions by women leaders on journalists’. For example that we are rude, we don’t give opportunity to women to speak in the media, we are not approachable, always favor the men and ask for money to publish their stories. I admit that some of these perceptions are right, we tend to leave out the women leaders in our interviews because they shy away from us whenever we approach them. Most times they don’t have enough knowledge on the topic being interviewed on which becomes hard for us to include their voices in our stories. However, we don’t ask for money to publish their stories, they just fear the media and have a wrong perception.
Women leaders need such trainings and engagements to know what they are supposed to do because they seemed not to know that they are a source of information and should also look for the media, they feel that the male councilors are the ones who are supposed to speak to the media which is not true.
In this training, I have learnt that I should give balanced reporting to both men and women. I need to look out for the women leaders, give them space in our different radio programs. For example, at Jambo FM, we have special programs for women where they can air out their views but have not been inviting women leaders, my focus has been women in business. In new stories, I have been focusing on men who are always available but now am going to bring women on board as well. Now that they know what to do, I think they will stop shying away when we invite them now that they have ben empowered by UMWA.
The training has been a productive one especially the engagement with women leaders. There are some things I didn’t know that women leaders perceive of us as journalists, like the fact that we are impatient, take them for granted, demand for money, we harass them or take them like people with low IQ, among others. I really didn’t know all this but learnt from this training. Am one of the journalists who has been impatient with them but unknowingly, I have been giving them short notices and this is because we work on deadlines, news is timely and if someone is not available at a particular time, you just leave them out not giving them a second chance. However, am going to improve on that.
Actually, I wasn’t aware of our impatience as journalists but now I can relate that I experienced this and got angry with some women leaders. For example, there is a Member of Parliament I gave a notice that I will call her in the morning for a live interview and she confirmed her availability, so when I called the following morning, the phone was off and it was a live call so her electorates complained why an MP would switch off her phone yet she had to speak to them. I called her in the afternoon, she told me how she is a mother, had to prepare children and drop them to school, which I took as excuses because how could I give you time and don’t turn up. But after this training I have realized that I was impatient. I have understood that women have many gender roles that they have to do on top of being a leader and I will give them time and be patient with them. However, there are also sharp ones available anytime you approach them because all of us are brought up differently.
I have also understood that the aspect of culture in this region has had a great impact on women, they have not been given a chance to speak out in public gatherings and decision making while growing up and women leaders are not exceptional but we believe that through these engagements they will learn to speak up and break those culture behaviors.
I have tried to engage many female leaders but they have turned me down, they would always fear speaking up and actually say that some of their structures in leadership don’t allow them to speak to the media much as you try to explain to them what they law says and what their roles and responsibilities are. Some women would say that if my husband hears my voice on the radio that’s going to be trouble, he will think am going to become more popular and other men might take interest in men. This would raise some insecurity on the part of the husband so for the sake of her marriage, she will turn you down.
As an Editor, am going to ensure that very story has to have a female voice either one or two so that they also give their views on the different topics. In our talk shows and call out interviews that we always have at the station, we shall ensure that the women are involved on the panel or interviewed prior for their views to be played in the program.
The training has been so impactful because it has united the media and women leaders in Masaka. I have been facing challenges that whenever I would approach women leaders for an interview, they would shy away, but this training has given them confidence not to fear us anymore but rather work with us. This is going to help us as journalists to be able to get both voices of men and women in our news stories. However, as journalists we have also been discriminating women and people with disabilities by not giving them a platform to air their voices or through stereotyping them that they fear the media but after this training this is going to change because am going to ensure that I get women’s voices without any discrimination.
I have been having a challenge of interviewing women leaders because whenever I would approach them, they would always say that if a male councilor has spoken, that is also their view yet all of us have different views. When the facilitators took ups through the session of gender and culture, I opened my eyes and I was so touched that I have been ignoring the women leaders by not giving them a platform yet I get news from their constituencies. I have been focusing on getting voices from the Mayor, District Chairperson and leaving out the concerned leaders who are the councilors and would be the right sources.
Am going to give a platform to women councilors, I have now got their contacts, so whenever there is an issue, I know that I can contact a woman councilor from Nyendo, Mukungwe, Kabonera or Kimanya etc. This will help me also reach these areas and focus on the issues affecting the people which was not the case before.
I would like to thank Uganda Media Women’s Association for coming to Masaka and engaging us the journalists and the women leaders, I request that you provide more trainings to the media and women leaders since this was the first time for such engagements.
I have benefited a lot from this training because it hasn’t left me the same, the way I used to perceive women leaders especially Councilors, by not paying attention to them in that even on events when a Member Parliament or District Chairperson speaks, that is it, those are the voices I publish. I have been ignoring them because they are at the local level yet, they are a source of information, have a lot of issues that can be covered by the media but I have been ignoring them. I had lost the principles of journalism.
I have not been considering councilors to give their own opinion, actually whenever I would do vox pops I would say hear some leaders giving out their views and not mention them because I thought they are not story worthy. Am going to take responsibility, give women leaders a platform, mention their names and the constituencies they represent and give them the respect they deserve.
What has been annoying me about women leaders but has been clarified in this training is that they have been shying away whenever we approach them, they used to say ….I will ask my husband first or say I don’t want to appear in the media, they had a perception that media only publishes negative stories about women leaders. The interactive dialogue has helped us as the media and women leaders create rapport and get solutions to the challenges both of us have been having and we are all happy about the outcome. I had only two contacts of women leaders who have attended this training but I have managed to get more than 20 contacts, now I cannot just by pass a woman leader without engaging them or even them, they cannot fail to contact me when they have issues to air out. We are now brothers and sisters. This has not been there for the 10 years I have practiced journalism.
What has surprised me is that as a man, I thought I was very special, superior and important, actually a person next to God or the god on earth, that without us men nothing can move on in this world. I have always been wondering why when husbands in a home die, the widow runs the family perfectly. However, when a wife dies, it is hard to find a settled family run by the widower. I have got the answer today after the facilitator practically led us through a session on gender and sex roles where I represented the men and realized that the only sex role a man can do and a woman cannot do is impregnating. However, a woman can do all the gender roles even those that are thought to be done by men and on top of that, she has more sex roles as well. I promise from today to respect all the women starting from my wife.
They have also taught us how to write a gender sensitive story and the importance of including both voices of men and women in our stories, how to package the stories, the language we use should not be demeaning any gender. I have not been paying attention to uplifting women’s voices. I have been covering Mayor Namayanja because she is a woman in that position and also the female Member of Parliament and maybe the other stories could be of a woman in a sorry state abandoned by her husband asking for help for the children. Starting from today, I pledge to always have women voices in all my stories in that even after a church session by a Bishop, I will always ensure I get a voice of a woman who has attended the session. I have realized that even on stories that concern women issues like mother kits, I would interview only men, this am not going to do again.
I kindly request UMWA to add more days to such impactful trainings and also make them residential for time keeping among participants.
The dialogue between women leaders and the media has helped me meet the journalists from different media houses who operate in Masaka. I didn’t know the journalists and that’s the reason why my voice and the issues affecting my electorate are missing the media, but also I feared the media even when journalists approached me, I felt like I have nothing to say to them.
I didn’t know that when you have an event, you can call the media to come for coverage. I thought that they are very expensive and as women leaders, we don’t have that money. Through the engagement, I have realized that we don’t need to pay money to appear in the media. The journalists have told us that they need to work with us because we are a source for content only if we can ably articulate issues affecting or happening in our constituencies.
I have also learnt that as a woman leader, I have to know my electorate, for example, the women, children, youth and elderly, understand issues that affect them and the reliable medium I can use to reach them. I have also learnt that the importance of doing research and speaking with facts because I will not be taken seriously by the media if I don’t give factual information. Honestly, I have not been doing research.
I have been taking council sessions for granted, not actively participating but I have realized that this is affecting my leadership. After this training am going to start participating actively in council meetings, get contact persons in ever division who can deliver my message and also ensure that I visit the divisions and engage with the electorate to understand the issues affecting them so that I can present them in the council.
I thank Uganda Media Women’s Association for this training and request for more trainings on media use because we are still lagging behind as women leaders at the lower level. I have never got such a training for all the time I have spent in leadership.
