It is not all rosy at the Namanve based Red Pepper Publications Limited after top management announced the closure of some publications and merging staff.
Red Pepper has enjoyed being the leading tabloid newspaper for a long time; at least the paper has been at the front of tabloid journalism since its inception in the early 2000s.
The tabloid newspaper has enjoyed a significant share of newspaper sales with one of its proprietors; Mr Arinaitwe Rugyendo arguing that the future of journalism lies in tabloidization.
As a result of its own success, the Red Pepper started sister publications including Hello Daily— another daily tabloid newspaper that has been focusing on celebrity news, scandals and crime.
However, Hello is one of the publications that have been closed in what is understood to be financial woos emananting from the Red Pepper.
Another publication to be closed is Emulalu a new Ateso newspaper that we understand has not lived to see its first birthday.
Entatsi, A Runyakitara tabloid publication which has been hitting the streets has been limited to coming out only twice a month as the directors assess its performance as a bi-monthly.
The Red Pepper is understood to be in deep financial trouble after most of its senior reporters left the publication over poor treatment by the directors.
Most of their star reporters who would write captivating stories and get exclusive stories were frustrated and either joined other media houses or quit journalism.
What has however hit the Red Pepper hard is a recent exodus of both senior and junior reporters who pulled resources and started their own newspaper which seems to be giving the Red Pepper a bloody nose.
The new publication has a similar design with that of the Red Pepper with some readers buying the paper due to its captivating stories compared to those of the Red Pepper.
Sources indicate that the troubles of the Red Pepper also stem from the ambitions of its directors who rushed to start several sister publications, something they could not sustain since most of the revenue was from the parent company. This partly explains why the publication has started with those very publications.
Overambitious directors
The directors had actually not stopped at tabloidization as they had started a newspaper to cater for the increasing number of Ugandans who do sports gambling (betting). The paper, Akapapula has also been halted.
This news site understands that only Red Pepper and Kamunye, a Luganda tabloid will keep operating normally.
Some observers argue that the Red Pepper top bosses have opted for monster rides at the expense of their business. They argue that while the bosses are driving the latest vehicles on the market, the employees have endured poor salaries and to make matters worse, those salaries come very late.
Another school of thought indicates that the top directors have been spending a lot of money on court cases as a result of their defamatory stories.
Although most staff have left the Namanve based publication, the remaining staff are now trembling in fear after employees in the closed publications are all congesting the small Red Pepper newsroom where they have been told to work from.
One of the employees this reporter talked to said that the problem could be from the declining copy sales.
The employee who preferred not to be named as she still wants her job said that: “Just know we shall soon going to lose our jobs. We expect a massive reshuffle that is if the whole company doesn’t collapse,” said the source.
The source decried the current mess that is in the newsroom where all employees are fighting for space.
“The entire staff is in the Red Pepper now, you can imagine the mess,” said the source.
The source also acknowledges that the directors were over ambitious by putting up several outlets including a radio station; Juice FM.
About Red Pepper
Red Pepper is a daily tabloid newspaper in Uganda that began publication on 19 June 2001.
The 2013 closure
Uganda Police raided the premises of Red Pepper on 20 May 2013. This happened soon after the paper had published a letter allegedly written by Army General David Sejusa, threatening that those opposing Muhoozi Kainerugaba for presidency risked their lives. Monitor Publications Limited was also raided for similar reasons.
