Because of their constant commitment to make Uganda, a better place, www.theugandan.com.ug is rallying support to standout of 736 submissions and get one of the 10 – 15 #innovateAFRICA journalism projects’ funding.
Crime News Link innovation tends to run solution based news by linking crime news to relevant authorities to find a solution through engaging government authorities and communities where crime takes place.
For instance, Uganda registers many crimes of child sacrifice, hit and run accidents, defilement, rape, corruption, nepotism and other related cases every year but many cases go unreported, instances #CrimeNewsLink is seeking to reverse for the better.
Please continue showing support to our project on Twitter and Facebook, using the #CrimeNewsLink and #innovateAFRICA hashtag.
“This project is unique in way that it builds community resilience and trust in digital media houses than relying on social media for news, this digs deep into communities and promotes originality and relevance in society,” reveals team leader Dixon Ampumuza, an award winning Media in Education expert in Africa.
Singling out terrorism, homicide and break-ins, this news website has argued that trends in these crimes had increased and attributed this to an decline to the public’s confidence in the media and justice system.
“There is less positivity or no communication for development there for media is awash with negative news without solutions and who to provide those solutions. Crime News Link innovation will promote real community stories and investigations towards finding a solution to crime,” Mr Ampumuza adds.
“The project seeks to work by orienting and assigning journalists to not only write one off story but to do follow up stories and linking the news to relevant authorities for a solution and do back to back follow up and reporting back to the community by exerting pressure on policy makers, police and government authorities where media identifies a lax in action to tackle crime by consistent and timely reporting to call them to action as justice delayed is justice denied,” he reveals.
If successful, the innovation will be replicated by so many media houses to change the way they report and followup solution oriented new stories every day, there is less investigation and follow up to provide solutions to the readers hence developing a lot of mistrust in media in Africa.
Over the years, there have been concerns over an increase in domestic disputes ending in death, sometimes with children conspiring to kill their parents over property.
A lot of crime goes unreported in Uganda and www.theugandan.com.ug is seeking to build bridges and efforts to ensure more police visibility which seemed not to be working though the latest statistics show that crime reported to police has increased in thousands fold but media followup and engaging the victims is lacking.
innovateAFRICA will announce the 50 shortlisted finalists on December 30 but the final judging, which will begin on January 15 will aim to be ready to announce winners by January 30.
innovateAFRICA’s partners include Omidyar Network, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the CFI, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), the Global Editors’ Network (GEN) and the World Bank.
