KFM back on air, producer sacked
By Anne Mugisa & Herbert Ssempogo MONITORS KFM radio was
reopened yesterday but producer Angelo Izama was discontinued by the
Broadcasting Council.
The radio re-opened yesterday afternoon, a week
after it was closed allegedly for breaching the broadcast law.
The
council said the station must immediately implement new standards for Andrew
Mwenda Live programme, which led to the closure. KFM must also pay the council
sh4,950,000 as costs of the ruling. The council said Izama was unable to
moderate Mwenda.
The councils operations manager, Denis Lukaaya,
accompanied by Monitor chief Conrad Nkutu, turned on the studio transmission
link at the station at 3:20pm. Ragga Dees Mbawe, blared out as staff cheered.
Council chairman Godfrey Mutabazi said the council had received numerous
complaints from the public and on several occasions talked to KFM management and
board over it. The Broadcasting Council did engage the management of KFM in
particular Dr. Martin Aliker, chairman Monitor Publications/KFM and director
Nation Media Group and Mr. Conrad Nkutu, its managing Director, with the hope
that moderation and restraint shall be exercised by the presenter of the
programme. During the informal dialogues, assurances were made, as have been
done in the latest, that management would rein in Mr Mwenda. As to whether the
management was successful in this endeavour is no longer debateable as the
recording of August 10, 2005 shows, he stated.
He said arguments that
Mwendas statements fell under protected speech were untenable because freedom
was not absolute and that the utterances touched on matters of national and
regional security.
He said the media was central to the Rwanda genocide
of 1994. He said irresponsible journalism by journalists of Mwendas calibre
could be a recipe for disaster and could unleash hostilities between the
regions fragile democracies.
Nkutu admitted inappropriate comments and
pledged to review the shows format and presentation. Ends
Published on: Friday, 19th August, 2005
The Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is
in
anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans
l'anarchie"
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