MP Tonny Ayoo’s World Press Freedom Day message

Summary:

Annually on May 3, the World commemorates World Press Freedom Day to remind govemenents of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom.
World Press Freedom Day is a day of support and remembrance for those journalists who lost their lives in the pursuit of a story.
This year’s theme is: Reporting in the Brave New World – The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Press Freedom and the Media.

On this World Press Freedom Day, I extend my gratitude to journalists and media fraternity in Uganda and globally for their invaluable service to humanity, shaping democratic governance, being voice of the voiceless, being the watch dogs.

Informing, educating and with humor; entertaining thus inspiring people to continue to strive for their dreams. In doing this, we must appreciate the importance of a free environment for you to operate.

However, with freedom comes responsibility. We urge journalists to maintain professionalism for it to be easy for society to distinguish between Journalism and Political Activism. I believe it is wrong as per journalist professional code of conduct.

It’s only novel if we verify information before sharing in order to stop promoting bias, disinformation, misinformation and hate campaigns which is almost becoming the new norm with the advent of technology and AI era.

We condemn any attempts to deny journalists access to information by gagging, torturing journalists, harassing or brutalising them while they do their job.

The State must know the journalists are just reporting what they are seeing for others who are not at such scenes to know as it’s their constitutional right to access any information under the sun without any interference by any one including State apparatus.

To media proprietors, we encourage you to prioritize the welfare of your journalists but not to take advantage of them and exploit them. We’ve heard concerns when we were engaging with the journalists about inadequate facilitation, which is the main cause of unprofessional conduct and compromised quality of reporting.

We’re committed to supporting journalists in their work, particularly as we approach elections. We’ll engage with stakeholders, including security agencies and the Electoral Commission, to ensure a free and fair process.

Let’s work together to promote a responsible and independent press and build a prosperous nation and world with space enough to accommodate everyone’s work and life.

Happy World Press Freedom Day.

MP Ayoo represents Kwania County in the 11th Parliament and serves as chairperson of the Committee for ICT and National Guidance, Parliament.