{"id":42665,"date":"2026-08-15T08:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T06:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=42665"},"modified":"2026-08-15T08:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T06:37:08","slug":"eight-in-10-ugandans-want-free-press-to-expose-government-corruption-report","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/eight-in-10-ugandans-want-free-press-to-expose-government-corruption-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight in 10 Ugandans want free press to expose government corruption: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A decisive majority of Ugandans back media freedom and want journalists to hold public officials accountable, according to a newly released report by research network Afrobarometer.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The survey findings show that 82% of citizens believe the country\u2019s media should constantly investigate and report on government mistakes and corruption. Furthermore, 70% of respondents expressed support for press freedom, opposing government intervention or censorship over news content.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Despite ongoing concerns from rights groups over legal restrictions and the safety of reporters during election cycles, 67% of Ugandans surveyed feel the media is currently &#8220;somewhat&#8221; or &#8220;completely free&#8221; to operate without state interference.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The data also underlines the unmatched reach of broadcast audio in the country; 77% of Ugandans rely on radio as their primary news source at least a few times a week. By comparison, television attracts 37% of regular news consumers, while social media and digital platforms stand at 23% and 19% respectively.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Although Uganda improved 12 places to rank 131st out of 180 countries on the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index, media advocates maintain that the absence of a dedicated access-to-information framework continues to hamper investigative reporting across the nation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica\/Afrobarometer&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23187,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-42665","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Ugandans strongly back media freedom and public accountability  ","published_date":"2026-08-15 08:17:58","news_description":"Ugandans strongly back media freedom and public accountability  ","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42666,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42665\/revisions\/42666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=42665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}