Reporting Corruption and Media ownership in Africa

This book discusses the relationship between the efforts of combating corruption and the role of the media. It focuses on the connection between media ownership and combating corruption. The research uses the 2005 Global Fund corruption scandal in Uganda as a case study. This scandal involved about US $200million from the Global Fund, meant to fight malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The study is based on a comparative analysis of how the two main newspapers in Uganda; Daily Monitor (privately owned) and New Vision (government-owned) reported on this corruption scandal. The research is based on theories of causes and means of combating corruption. Within these theories, the study deals with the relationship between the media and fighting corruption. The theory of media ownership and editorial independence has also been discussed with a view of tracing the relationship between ownership and editorial content. The study found out that the media’s ability to combat corruption in Uganda is greatly hampered by unfriendly press laws and the media’s failure to mobilize resources and skills to do investigative journalism.