No news today: Ugandan journalists boycott government

Journalists in Uganda have imposed a news blackout on the east African country's government in protest against what they described as rising brutality against reporters covering demonstrations over high prices.
 
"We are sick and tired of unprovoked police brutality against us as we go about our work," Ssebagala Wokuri, an official at the Human Rights Network for Journalists explained on Friday.
 
The boycott will include the entire government and police functions, including President Yoweri Museveni, they said, but it was not clear if all the news media had signed up to it.
 
The capital Kampala and other major towns have seen violent confrontations between demonstrators and security forces that are struggling to put down twice-weekly protests against high food and fuel prices.
 
Up to five people were killed on Thursday when Ugandan police shot at supporters of opposition leader Kizza Besigye, after the protesters attacked cars carrying African leaders at the inauguration of Museveni.
 
Deliberately targeted
The US-based rights body Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Ugandan police and military have been using disproportionate force to quell the demonstrations. Journalists said police appeared in some cases to target them deliberately.
 
They convened at the government-run media centre, and had planned to walk out on the information and internal affairs ministers as they held a press conference, but this did not happen because the ministers failed to show up. "We'll not cover anything to do with government including police and the army until we get a formal apology from them to us and to Ugandan public," Wokuri said.
 
Rubber bullet
One journalist was shot in the leg and more than ten others assaulted and their equipment taken on Thursday while covering the return of Besigye to Uganda from Kenya, where he had travelled for treatment for injuries he suffered while being arrested two weeks ago for taking part in the protests.
 
Besigye was also struck by a rubber bullet during one of the protest marches, and was treated at a Kampala hospital.
 
[related-articles]No apology
Gideon Tugume, a radio reporter said his right leg was hit yesterday by a rubber bullet shot by the police.
"This was the third time I was being victimised by police and I think this is deliberate and since I was shot yesterday, I have not even received a single word of apology," he said.
 
Information minister, Kabakumba Matsiko, said some journalists were compromising their safety by deliberately putting themselves in harm's way, and said some were opposition activists. "We're aware so many opposition supporters are masquerading as journalists but we're investigating and whoever broke the law, whether journalists or police, will be punished," she said.
 
 
Source: Reuters