"The radio said" : analysing the role of live debate on private commercial radio in the democratic process in Uganda

Abstract The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people and especially of government always have effects that are unanticipated or "unintended." Economists and other social scientists have heeded its power for centuries; for just as long, politicians and popular opinion have largely ignored it (Norton Rob 2002). The thesis explores changes that have occurred in radio broadcasting in Uganda over the last almost ten years. From half a century dominated by a single state owned and controlled radio, Uganda now has one of the biggest numbers of private commercial radio stations in Africa. Though the liberalized broadcast media was and remains part of the wider government austerity measures to address economic problems, it has had far-reaching social and political consequences. Liberalization demands the institutionalisation and respect for individual rights to property, equality of all citizens, fairness of the law and a regime of freedoms of movement, association and expression. These rights and freedoms are inspiring not only to business entrepreneurs but also to politicians and civil society organizations as well. Therefore, by liberalizing the economy, in 1989, the Uganda government opened a pressure valve for wider social political changes that can lead to democratisation. This central argument in this thesis is that the liberalization of the broadcast media in particular has a significant impact on the democratisation process in the country. Given the country s limited literacy rate and the historic role of radio in Uganda as the source of all major official information, private commercial radio occupies a central role in the process of mobilizing and debating the future. The spread of private commercial radio across the entire country may have been spanned by economic and ethnic considerations but it has opened up the countryside, improving communication between citizens, improving the speed and volume of information available to ordinary people and giving them an opportunity to participate in the exchange of ideas. This thesis argues that live phone-in programs on private commercial radio are an important tool of democracy. It is through these programs that politicians and those entrusted with authority are interrogated. Private individuals and journalists join in the debate, demanding answers to questions that affect society. This phenomenon, hitherto unknown in Uganda is the source of anticipation and optimism about the strength and future of the country s democracy, with private commercial radio as the arena for the public sphere