General

By all accounts, the media sector in Uganda has seen great growth over the past few years. The media were severely restricted during the 1970s and 80s, which were years of turmoil and repression. Since President Museveni took power in 1986, the media environment has slowly but steadily been liberalized. However, it does seem that the
government is still quick to make use of repressive legislation still on the statute books, if it sees fit to do so. While media organisations may win most cases that end up in court, government's tendency to react in a repressive manner has meant that journalists tend to censor themselves - resulting in less vigorous reporting than might otherwise be the case.