Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) was established in 1963, one year after Uganda won its independence. Uganda Radio was founded in 1954 and TV Uganda followed nine years later. The two were merged to become UBC.
Media assets
Television: Uganda Television (UTV), Magic 1, U24, Star TV
Radio: Radio Uganda, Regional Radio (UBC Butebo FM, UBC Radio Uganda, UBC West FM, UBC Star FM, Totore FM- Nginajok (Karamoja region), UBC Westnile FM, Magic 100.0, Mega FM, Ubc Voice of Bundibugyo FM, Ngeya FM, UBC Buruli FM)
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
UBC is fully owned by the government. UBC was established under the Ugandan Broadcasting Corporation Act of 2005. The broadcaster is subordinated to the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance. The broadcaster’s main governing structure is a Board of Directors whose eight members are appointed by the government for a four-year term, according to the law (although the last time they were appointed for a three-year term). The directors who serve on the Board are appointed by the minister of information.
In January 2023, lawmakers urged the government to merge UBC and the multimedia group New Vision. They argue that UBC underperforms in spite of the state budget cash injections into the corporation. Recently, UBC requested UGX 66bn (US$ 17.5m) for its digital transformation, a sum that is not justified in the opinion of its critics. In contrast, New Vision has been praised for its financial performance.
Source of funding and budget
In the 2019/2020 budget, the government allocated to UBC a total of UGX 18.5bn (US$ 4.9m) to fund its reform into a public broadcaster. The revamping of the UBC was initiated by President Yoweri Museveni who asked the finance ministry to release funds worth UGX 20bn for this process.
The operational budget of UBC in the fiscal year 2020-2021 was a total of UGX 45.8bn, most of it coming from government subsidies. The broadcaster also carries advertising, but revenues from ad sales are only marginal.In the 2021/2022 budget, UBC was given by the government a total of UGX 22bn (US$ 5.9m) to cover operational costs.
Editorial independence
The government interferes regularly with the editorial agenda of UBC, the office of the president in particular exerting control of UBC via a government-run media agency. Reports show that UBC fails to fulfill its public service mission, being instead subservient to the government (particularly to the president). Although it is supposed to follow specific ethical guidelines on election coverage, for example, UBC is known for favoring the incumbents during electoral campaigns.
The UBC’s editorial agenda is guided by a set of rules nailed down in the UBC Act. However, in practice, this guidance is not followed.
There is no independent assessment or oversight mechanism that would validate the editorial independence of UBC. In 2016, the government created and funded an ad hoc review committee consisting of independent experts who were tasked to review UBC’s performance.
The committee found problems at UBC and made recommendations to improve the corporation’s operations. However, there is no permanent mechanism in charge of assessing the editorial independence of UBC.
October 2023