Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has called upon all online media platform owners to register with UCC or face closure of their sites.
Mr.Nyombi Thembo, UCC Executive Director, said the media regulator is not interested in suffocating online media practitioners but to put in place regulations to control and guide online news flow.
Officiating in a one day engagement meeting with online media owners at the UCC Head office in Bugolobi, Nyombi cited hate speech, pornography and offensive online communication as being part of the reason UCC is requiring all online platforms to register their businesses.
“Registration and acquiring alicense will help in online regulation by UCC mean while acquiring a licence will help online media proprietors to get adverts from Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)”, he said.
Nyombi however cautioned online media owners to maintain professionalism in their editorial dissemination by balancing their story sources and to refrain from taking sides or being biased when reporting especially on politics.
“Online writers should be professional and widely knowledgeable in the subject matter they intend to put out for public consumption”, he added.
Abudu Waiswa Sallam, UCC Head of Legal Affairs, said despite presence of over 200 media online platforms in the country only three online content providers and 35 valid online data providers are registered.
He called on non-registered online media houses to ensure they register their online platforms as soon as possible, or else face closure by the regulator.
“ According to Technopedia, “New Media” is all websites and online platforms that come up due to Innovation and Technology”, he said, adding that; it’s the major reason UCC is to register all online media platforms and shut down those that will not comply.
Waiswa said the registration fee for online media house is UGX 100,000 ($USD 27) annually.
