Every country has news consumers—and news avoiders—who are media illiterate. OJ-UGANDA’s media literacy section exists to change that. Follow along.
Musaazi NAMITI | Media Literacy
There is no question that the New York Times article about army chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba and his father, President Yoweri Museveni, on how they are running Uganda ruffled many feathers, especially those of individuals trying to whitewash the image of the government.
The 4,000-word-plus article, titled “I went to Uganda and saw the authoritarian future”, was published on October 8 and has since been shared widely on social media by Ugandans and human rights defenders and activists in Western capitals.
A day after the Times published it, Foreign Affairs Minister Adonia Ayebare, a former journalist, shared his view about it while commenting on the army’s response to the same article on social media.
“The article was a hit job,” Mr Ayebare wrote on X. “The author, Megan [Stack], is an opinion writer, not a full-time correspondent of the New York Times, and belongs to the radical left, which wants to export liberal values, including ‘perverted democracy’”.
The article was a hit job the author Megan is an opinion writer not a full time corespondent of the New York Times, and belongs to the radical left which wants to export liberal values including "perverted Democracy". Instead of deploying the more experienced and long time Africa hand Mathew Mpoke Biggs the New York Times Bureau Chief for East Africa based in Nairobi they flew in this mercenary to lay ground work for a vicious campaign against emerging Nationalist leaders like @mkainerugaba. Their extreme liberal views have lost traction in the the West and other regions and they are trying to export them to Africa.
— Adonia Ayebare (@adoniaayebare) October 10, 2026
Media literacy entails judging journalism on the basis of evidence supporting what is reported. True, Ms Stack is described by the Times as an opinion writer, not a reporter, but there are important facts readers need to know in the interest of media literacy. The Times and many other well-established outlets, especially in the United States, have what they call reported opinions/op-eds.
To understand this better, readers need to know what reported opinions/op-eds means. Let me start with “op-ed”. It stands for “opposite the editorial page”, meaning an opinion article that sits opposite the page where editorials—opinion articles by senior editorial staff expressing the newspaper’s view point on a given topic—are written.
When an opinion/op-ed is reported, it means the author has used journalistic reporting to support an argument. Readers who are familiar with Nicholas Kristof’s journalism at the Times—and those who regularly read Washington Post and Poynter articles—know what this means.
Articles can cite sources interviewed, complete with their quotes, just like in a news report, but the author has some leeway to throw in an opinion grounded in fact. This is different from writing an opinion based entirely on what a journalist thinks.
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The Times retired the term “op-ed” in 2021, replacing it with “Guest Essay”, largely because “Op-ed” does not have physical meaning since many readers access articles online. Other outlets still use “op-ed”.
Ms Stack’s article was a Guest Essay, and it used journalistic reporting to support an argument. Consequently, what she wrote about Uganda, Gen Kainerugaba and Mr Museveni cannot be dismissed unless Mr Ayebare can point out falsehoods or inaccuracies.
Mr Ayebare also wrote: “Instead of deploying the more experienced and longtime Africa hand, Mathew Mpoke Biggs, the New York Times Bureau Chief for East Africa based in Nairobi, they flew in this mercenary to lay groundwork for a vicious campaign against emerging nationalist leaders like @mkainerugaba.”
But Ms Stack is a vastly experienced journalist. Her bio on the Times website states: “Megan K. Stack is a contributing Opinion writer. She has been a correspondent in China, Russia, Egypt, Israel, Afghanistan and the U.S.-Mexico border area. Her first book, a narrative account of the post-Sept. 11 wars, was a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction.”
It is standard practice in many large newsrooms to have journalists who are not full-time employees working in the same capacity as those on the payroll. Readers need to take note of the fact that in developed countries, “Guest Writer” or “freelance” does not carry the same connotation of being a non-bonafide journalist, inexperienced, underemployed or poorly paid as it does in places like Uganda.
Read: Muhoozi ordered Kakwenza to expose his penis as he filmed him—New York Times
A journalist can work decades for a news outlet when they are freelancing. In July, former BBC Balkans correspondent Guy De Launey wrote on LinkedIn that he had “worked for the BBC for 32 years, 22 of those as a foreign correspondent on a rolling annual freelance agreement.”
There you have it. Two whole decades of not being a full-time BBC journalist. And Mr De Launey did much more than working as a correspondent. He was also a presenter.
For readers who saw Mr Ayebare’s comment, they need to separate three questions: Who wrote the article and what are their qualifications? What evidence supports the article’s factual claims? Are its interpretations and conclusions reasonable?
The minister’s response largely concentrates on the first and on alleged political motives, rather than systematically addressing the second and third.
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