The Northern Uganda Media Club (NUMEC) concluded its training of journalists in northern Uganda on energy reporting on Thursday last week.
The virtual training, which had 25 participants, was meant to equip the journalists with skills in energy reporting, including having a deeper understanding of the history of energy use in Uganda since 1990 during the British rule – the evolving energy landscape from that time to date – as well as contemporary energy issues.
“To report better about energy you need to understand how it all began,” says Jeff Mbanga, an editor of the Observer business desk and founder of Deep Earth, a communications and consultancy firm.
“Are we going to see a repeat of 1948 when we had [the Uganda Electricity Board]?”
Early this year, the government announced that plans were underway to merge the three electricity companies in Uganda – the Uganda Electricity Generation Company, Uganda Electricity Distribution Company, and Uganda Electricity Transmission Company— into one company known as the Uganda National Electricity Company (UNEL) –a replica of the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB).
“As journalists, we need to understand that opportunities are going to be created when this merger happens. But the big question is: Are we going to see a repeat of what happened [in the past with UEB] or are we going to learn from it?” asked Mr. Mbanga.
For now, Mr. Mbanga noted, “When reporting about energy, know it’s about a contest for power; a contest for control. Who is the winner? Who are the losers?”
Besides electricity, the online energy training also covered key issues surrounding energy transition in Uganda such as the use of off-grid and on-grid solar as cleaner forms of energy.
Add to that, the journalists also took a deep dive into understanding what explanatory reporting—a form of reporting that attempts to present ongoing news stories, in this case, energy, in a more accessible and simple way— is as well as key aspects that come with it. This was followed by a discussion on the potential story ideas in the energy sector in Uganda.
“Write stories from an informative and balanced perspective,” advised Mr. Mbanga, adding that this helps journalists build trust with sources, thus making it easy to access sensitive information that may be hard to get.
Alfred Oryem, the Project Manager at NUMEC, revealed that NUMEC would be giving grants to journalists in northern Uganda to report about energy, stating that only those who participated in the virtual training would be considered.
