This study analyses Uganda’s 2004 Broadcast Policy in light of the WSIS principles in order to establish whether the policy enables radio to build an inclusive and people-centred Information Society, and if so, in what ways it does this. The study specifically focuses on radio, which it views as the dominant medium in Uganda, and therefore the medium with the greatest potential to build a sustainable Information Society in the country. The study is informed by media policy theories as well as Information Society theories. It is argued that although most definitions of the Information Society consider the newer ICTs, especially the Internet, as the key drivers in the Information Society, most developing countries like Uganda are far from reaching the desired level of computer and Internet access as proposed by some Information Society theorists. Instead, most people in Uganda rely heavily on older ICTs, especially radio, for information about key issues in their daily lives. Inevitably, radio ends up being a key player in building the Information Society in these countries. The study, therefore, finds most of the common Information Society theories lacking and adopts the WSIS definition, which is more relevant to Uganda’s situation. This study also maintains that if radio is to be a key player in building an inclusive and people-centred Information Society in Uganda, the 2004 Broadcast Policy has to create that enabling environment, by, for example, promoting public service radio through local content programming, and diversifying radio ownership. The data for this study was obtained using the qualitative research approach, and specifically the research tools of document analysis and individual in-depth interviews. The findings indicate that the policy’s emphasis is on building a broadcast sector that addresses the public’s interests through local content programming and provision of diversified media services. However, the study also found that the policy is vague on some very crucial aspects, which would benefit the public, namely, local content quotas and the independence of the public service broadcaster.

Advances in information technology (IT) and the global shift from governance to e-governance in the public sector have motivated Uganda to put in place a robust information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to enhance citizen access to e-information and information flow for e-governance in its local governments. However, this has not been realized due to a lack of functional information systems. This study investigated critical issues in information access and flow in Isingiro district and Mbarara municipality – two of Uganda’s upper local governments – with the aim of modeling an information system to support e-governance in these governments. Rooted in a pragmatist epistemology with an orientation towards mixed methods research (MMR), the study adopted a methodological triangulation technique. A convergent design was adopted that involved the concurrent collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. A random sampling scheme was used to select 360 participants from 8 study sites for a questionnaire survey, while a purposive sampling scheme was used to select 64 people to participate in 8 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 25 in key informant interviews. The findings of the study indicate that citizen access to e-governance information in the local governments is low. Information flow to the citizens is constrained by lack of affordable media outlets, so the local governments are forced to keep frequency of government to citizen (G2C) communication to a bare minimum. Worse still, government communication lacks formal programming: neither is it based on an information needs assessment of the citizens nor does it have a feedback mechanism. There are also myriad factors breeding inequality and social disadvantage within the communities that constrain citizen access to ICT tools and e-skills. The findings show also that the current e-governance models are ICT-intensive and highly reliant on the Internet, so they require higher e-skills levels and higher diffusion of ICT tools than those currently available in developing countries. The models are also largely civil society oriented. However, a SWOT analysis shows that the local governments have the capacity to implement a home-grown, hybrid e-governance system of information access and flow. The study recommends inter alia that the local governments establish their own broadcasting services, base their public communications on citizen e-information needs, and design multi-media communication strategies combining traditional and convergent media. More importantly, the study recommends the implementation of an interactive, hybrid and multimedia e-governance information system, whose model it articulates. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)