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Musaazi NAMITI | Media Literacy
Last week, the Weekend Monitor’s columnist, Dr Moses Khisa, announced on his Facebook page that editors at the newspaper had decided not to run his article criticising the abduction and humiliation by security forces of former Kampala mayor Erias Lukwago.
He was not complaining about the editors’ decision. In fact, he acknowledged that they work under difficult conditions, many of which are in the form of threats from the government and powerful individuals within security forces, notably the army chief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Dr Khisa—who works as an assistant professor at North Carolina State University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences—did not criticise Gen Kainerugaba personally. His column asked a pointed question: Where is the conscience of the nation? It then detailed things that have gone horribly wrong as the government clamps down on opposition supporters and its critics.
Like Dr Khisa, I write a weekly column for the Weekend Monitor as an independent contractor. This week, the article I had written for the paper was about former cabinet minister and MP Miria Matembe. I had not seen or read anything about security forces storming her home in Luzira when I started writing it. The article commended her for speaking out against repression and tyranny when many Ugandans have chosen silence.
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A day after submitting it, one of the editors contacted me to say it would not be published.
Many news consumers have seen the word “spike” in headlines about articles that news outlets have declined to publish. The word is used mostly in newsrooms by journalists, and journalists often make the mistake of assuming that what they know is known by everyone they write for. Another common word that is used is “pulled”.
So, what does spiking or pulling an article really mean? Why do editors sometimes spike articles, as happened with Dr Khisa’s and mine? It is worth mentioning that this was not the first time and that this is a difficult decision for the editors. They really do not want to gag their columnists.
Editors spike articles—or refuse to publish them—for three main reasons. The order really does not matter, so any of these reasons could be the main reason.
Legal risk: News outlets have to be extremely careful about legal minefields. A defamatory article about someone society holds in high esteem can land a news outlet in court, and if it loses the case, the consequences can be devastating: Think astronomical court damages that can bankrupt the outlet. The decision not to publish is often made after the outlet has sought legal opinion from its lawyers.
Poor editorial quality: If the writer has written an article so poorly that editors are struggling to make sense of it, and cannot edit it to publishable standard, it will be spiked.
Institutional survival: This is where the Daily Monitor comes in. A closed Daily Monitor serves no purpose. Everything the paper does depends on it being open and operating. Consequently, its editors are wary of opinion articles that can galvanise the government into taking drastic action. It is worth mentioning that on several occasions, President Museveni has called the Monitor an “enemy paper”.
In October 2022, while marking Uganda’s 60th independence anniversary at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, he singled out a column I had written about a controversial coffee deal and railed against the paper. Add his son’s threats and you will see why the Monitor sometimes has to kill critical articles.
The threats from Mr Museveni and Gen Kainerugaba have obviously led to self-censorship among editors and opinion columnists. If a columnist has written several articles and they have been spiked, they will steer clear of red-hot topics even if public interest is strong.
But with or without self-censorship, a newspaper that speaks truth to power is a favourite of discerning news consumers, even those who may be hostile to its editorial work. The Monitor is read by Mr Museveni and Gen Kainerugaba because they know that it publishes news that they may not want to read but should read.
The paper has been incredibly resilient given its difficult history with the current government: raids on its newsroom in 2002 and 2013. Readers may want to read hard-hitting or thought-provoking opinions, but survival is more important.
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DISCLOSURE: The author of this article writes a column for the Weekend Monitor as an independent contractor.
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