Report by DFSR Lab About Kampala Post is Misleading and Biased
On February 22, DFSR Lab, a US-based research organization published an article attacking the operational style of The Kampala Post.
The article, which has been shared for publication among several publishing agencies was put together by the Lab’s unit in Cape Town in partnership with Code for Africa -- also took aim at other six local news publishers.
As The Kampala Post, we would like to respond as follows;
About Opinion Articles
While we have regular columnists, The Kampala Post accepts opinion articles from whoever writes despite their political affiliation as long as the article is well-researched and meets our editorial standards.
We do not have a record showing that we dismissed articles authored by anyone affiliated with the opposition. In any case, we have published several articles from known opposition figures and they are accessible on the website.
About sharing of bylines
The structure of our website back end gives the content uploader rights to only one byline.
Our editorial policy also allows content uploaders/editors to source content from different individuals/organizations as long as it resonates with our audience and is verifiable.
But this content must be attributed to the owner. DFSR, in its article, points out Nicholas Asingwire, one of the writers and editors at The Kampala Post -- for sharing bylines with original creators. However, as explained above, every editor, who is also in charge of uploading content, is designated one byline.
So, when an editor uploads a story, even when it is submitted as an OPED, the name of the editor/uploader will appear on the default byline space. But the editor also takes initiative to credit the original creator.
Therefore, we note that the findings by DFSR are biased and inefficient because the Kampala Post is a trusted, reliable and professional news organization that upholds the core principles of journalism; Truth and Accuracy, Independence, Fairness and Impartiality, Humanity, and Accountability.
It is also widely known that various international groups including tech giant Facebook have targeted whoever has not been biased in favor of their preferred candidate in Uganda’s presidential election. And this is not to say that The Kampala Post had a preferred candidate but while for instance, Facebook targeted some information outlets; other toxic information dissemination platforms that have been openly been mobilizing for especially National Unity Platform Candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine were not even cautioned.
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