Indigenous Language Programming and Citizen Participation in Ugandan Broadcasting: an Exploratory Study

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Indigenous Language Programming and Citizen Participation in Ugandan Broadcasting: an Exploratory Study INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN UGANDAN BROADCASTING: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY by MONICA BALYA CHIBITA submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject of COMMUNICATION at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: PROF. PJ FOURIE JOINT PROMOTER: PROF. M RUTANGA JUNE 2006 i DECLARATION Student Number: 3439-444-3 I declare that ‘Indigenous language programming and citizen participation in Ugandan broadcasting: an exploratory study’ is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. ………………………………………… …………………………. SIGNATURE DATE (MRS. MB CHIBITA) ii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my husband Mike Chibita, and to our children Benezeri, Maria, Semu and Joshua for understanding that this is something I needed to do, and that there was never going to be an ideal time for doing it, and to Dick and Ivy Otto and Deon and Teresa Conradie for providing that badly needed space for me to accomplish this task. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am extremely grateful to my promoter, Prof. Pieter J. Fourie for painstakingly working through the thesis with me and for his untiring guidance and support through the entire doctoral process. I have been inspired and matured greatly and by working with him. I am equally grateful to my co- promoter, Prof. Murindwa-Rutanga for his deep insights into the Ugandan political situation and issues of politics and culture, for his constant encouragement and for his practical advice. I thank Makerere University and the Carnegie Corporation of New York for financial support towards my tuition, travel and subsistence in South Africa and my research in Uganda, and the American Centre for their support in form of a book grant to the Mass Communication Department. I also thank colleagues at the office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, the Mass Communication Department, the Literature Department, the Philosophy Department and the Institute of Languages at Makerere. I am grateful to colleagues like Dr. Mutebi-Golooba, George Lugalambi and Chris Muhoozi for critiquing my ideas, advising on methodological pitfalls and generally enriching my perspective. I thank Dawie Malan and John Kamau for entertaining my endless requests for materials at the UNISA library and at Makerere. Thanks too, to Marie- Helene, Martha, Prof. Bornman and Zandi all at UNISA for their kindness and hospitality. I am grateful to all my research assistants and my sources and am indebted to Dr. Wagaba who taught me to laugh during this process. My thanks further go to Rebecca Rugyendo and Mukootani Rugyendo for proofreading my work, Dr. Shuaib Lwasa for developing the maps and Martin Ddungu for assisting with the formatting. On a personal level, I am indebted first to my family, for sticking with me. To the Conradies who have made me a part of their family in South Africa, ‘thank you’ will, of course, never do. I am grateful to Dr. Jack Smith, the Ottos, Susan Hay and Connie for opening their homes to me and holding me accountable, and the Nkusis for just being there for me as friends. I thank my friend Beatrice Mawano for her supportive friendship and my mother, Akiiki, for her constant encouragement and concern. Finally, I take full responsibility for any shortcomings in this thesis, confident that it is an important step in the learning process. iv ACRONYMS Legco Legislative Council UPU Uganda People’s Union UPC Uganda People’s Congress DP Democratic Party KY Kabaka Yekka UPDF Uganda People’s Defence Force TPDF Tanzania People’s Defence Force NRA National Resistance Army NRM National Resistance Movement NPC National People’s Congress UNLF Uganda National Liberation Front RC Resistance Council LC Local Council UBS Uganda Broadcasting Service UBC Uganda Broadcasting Corporation LRA Lord’s Resistance Army MW Medium Wave SW Short Wave FM Frequency Modulation PPU Presidential Press Unit VPPU Vice President’s Press Unit PMPU Prime Minister’s Press Unit Sida Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency v SUMMARY The thesis, Indigenous language programming and citizen participation in Ugandan broadcasting: an exploratory study constitutes an analysis of the significance of policy on indigenous language programming in Uganda’s broadcast media. The thesis is conceived broadly within a critical studies’ framework. It emphasises the role of the broadcast media in the public sphere, as well as policy on linguistic diversity in making the public sphere more accessible to the majority of Ugandans. Fundamental assumptions of the thesis are the following: • The imperatives of the market are in tension with the need to preserve a significant amount of indigenous language broadcasting in Uganda’s broadcast media for purposes of diversity; • This tension can be discerned in the political-economic environment within which the broadcast media in Uganda have evolved and operate as well as in public debate on indigenous language programming in the broadcast media; • The current state of the media’s structure, operation and regulation have their roots in Uganda’s political history; and • Policy on the indigenous languages has a bearing on Ugandans’ capacity to participate meaningfully in the democratic process via the broadcast media. The thesis documents key social, political and economic factors surrounding policy on indigenous language broadcasting in Uganda using interviews, an analysis of Uganda’s political history as well as key legal documents related to diversity and participation. It documents public debate on the significance of language policy for the participation of Ugandans in the democratic process through the broadcast media and examines how changes in the structure and operation of Uganda’s broadcast media, especially since the liberalisation of the airwaves in the early 1990s, are perceived by Ugandans to have affected their participation in the democratic process through the media. Finally the thesis makes recommendations for future communication policy with regards to the role of language in enhancing diversity and participation. Key terms: broadcasting, democratic participation, diversity, indigenous language, media, radio, policy, public sphere, Uganda. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .......................................................................................................................... I DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ III ACRONYMS .............................................................................................................................. IV SUMMARY V TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................................................1 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 1 1.2 STUDY CONTEXT ................................................................................................ 1 1.2.1 The broadcast media in Uganda ............................................................................. 2 1.3 CENTRAL ASSUMPTIONS OF THE STUDY ..................................................... 3 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..................................................................................... 4 1.5 METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK................................................................. 4 1.6 DATA-GATHERING TECHNIQUES ................................................................... 6 1.6.1 Qualitative interviews.............................................................................................. 7 1.6.2 Analysis of policy and archival material................................................................. 8 1.7 ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY ...................................................................... 9 1.7.1 Phase one: socio-historical analysis..................................................................... 10 1.7.2 Phase two: documenting the language debate...................................................... 13 1.7.3 Phase Three: Interpretation, conclusions and recommendations......................... 15 1.8 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2 ..................................................................................................................................16 2.0 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND CULTURAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES ON THE MEDIA, LANGUAGE AND CITIZENSHIP ................................................................................................................. 16 2.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 16 2.2 HABERMAS AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE ........................................................ 16 2.2.1 The rise of the bourgeois public sphere and ‘civil society’................................... 18 2.2.2 The politicisation of the bourgeois public sphere ................................................
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