It is past noon on Wednesday 25th July, and the sun is yet to come out on ACME. Therefore, to cheer ourselves up, we will point out the things about today’s newspapers that have made us smile.
Page 1, Daily Monitor: Kazinda denied bond: There was an excellent photograph and it was used very well. Quoting one simple figure and posing a leading question was a prime example of less being more, especially when there have been no real developments in the story. For instance, the Police will not cite a figure on just how much money they think Kazinda made off with, neither are they charging him officially yet. The picture is an excellent summary of the situation.
By contrast, the New Vision’s photos are as dismal as the weather: One old man is the star of page 1, followed by another old man starring on page 2, then lots of people staring at yet another old man to captivate us on page 3.
Page 24, Daily Monitor: 7 Innovations at this year’s Farmers Show: This will be especially useful for people who go to the agricultural show for agricultural purposes, rather than the sideshows. It was a great angle for a story that can get very tired sometimes, and kudos to the sub-editor for presenting it with lots of pictures. A good example of taking heavy material and making it readable.
Page 13 New Vision, Ras Toon: The indomitable Ras rarely fails to draw a smile. We may be growing weary of the Tale of Two Clintons, but today’s cartoon, showing Bill Senior lining up to pay school fees, is an entertaining twist in the tale. It confirms that Bill Senior will be footing the education bills for Bill Junior, while highlighting a common social issue that will soon be affecting parents again.
Page 21, New Vision Mwalimu pullout, Universities abandon research in law degree: It was a good attempt to frame this most insane of issues, although it could have done with more sourcing and actual voices of value.
Page 1, The Observer, Somalia numbers, UPDF Somalia budget up by 78%: It is short, simple and sweet. Subsequent figures quoted are sh672m per day, 245bn per year. I hate numbers; especially when there are too many of them, which leaves me with no sense of why they are there. Not so for this brief intro to the story. I have seen, understood and decided whether or not I’d like to read the story. Just a thought: It would have been nice to see this story teamed up with another one on page 14 of Monday’s Daily Monitor. It reports the woes of a family whose sole breadwinner died. He was a UPDF soldier in the Somalia mission and his family has neither received his salary for the past two months nor been informed of his death. And yet one hears of these amazing daily AMISOM budgets…
Page 11, The Observer: A tale of Kampala’s restrooms: The cover of the Wednesday lite pullout features a toilet in the background and a lovely young woman in the fore. I suppose the sub-editor was trying to make the toilet more palatable, but sticking the pretty young thing there was just funny. She has nothing to do with anything, really. At least she made us smile.
