By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has suspended a programme airing on Urban TV after several viewers complained about its content that was deemed offensive and scandalous.
Although the Commission has since learnt from social media that the programme Scoop on Scoop was currently off air, the regulatory due process, which was already in motion,has ended the game.
“UCC first received complaints about Scoop on Scoop in May 2020, and accordingly wrote to Vision Group on May 25, 2020, seeking an explanation, including information on the qualifications of the staff behind it”Statement read.
However, According to UCC, Vision Group didn’t comply as directed, prompting the UCC Ag. Executive Director Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo to suspend the programme as investigations commence. (https://theownerbuildernetwork.co/)
In her letter of May 25, 2020, Ms Kaggwa Sewankambo said the Commission had received complaints to the effect that the content and nature of Scoop on Scoop airing on Urban TV violates the Minimum Broadcasting Standards as enshrined in the Uganda Communications Act 2013.
The complainants had explicitly alleged that during the month of May 2020, Scoop on Scoop featured content that was “abusive, demeaning and inciting; opinionated and not attributed to any reliable source.”
The commission says it initiated investigations in accordance with sections 5(1)(b), (x) and (j), 31 and 45 of the Uganda Communications Act 2013. To facilitate the investigations, Urban TV was asked to submit a written representation in response to the complaints, and to submit recordings of the programme for the period May 1 – 20, 2020.
Urban TV was also to provide proof of certification and registration of the producer and the host of the programme, in accordance with sections 5 and 27 of the Press and Journalist Act, Cap. 105.
In response, Vision Group wrote to the Commission on May 29, 2020, stating that the complaint had been forwarded to its Human Resource Department for disciplinary proceedings.
Though Vision Group enclosed DVDs of the programme, UCC say neither made representations on the complaint as requested nor provided evidence of the producer and the host’s qualifications.
It should be remembered that the route cause of all these is when Urban TV’s Scoop on Scoop show host Tina real name Christine Karungi allegedly used her platform to accuse Sheila Gashumba of carrying out abortions, being a prostitute among other defamatory utterances.
Which later, Sheila called for UCC’s intervention as the broadcaster’s regulator using her various social media platforms.
This forced Vision group’s Urban TV management to take the program for a break as matters got sorted.
