Uganda’s media kept pace with an intensifying campaign in December, ACME’s latest monitoring of election coverage finds. Coverage volumes remained high across all platforms, but questions about depth, scrutiny, and representation that have characterised this monitoring series from the outset show little sign of resolution.
The December report is the third in a series of monthly summaries tracking media performance across the electoral cycle, following reports for July to October, and November 2025. It monitors all of Uganda’s daily newspapers, major national and regional television stations, radio stations from across the country’s regions, and leading digital and online news platforms.
December brought a development that sets this report apart from its predecessors. For the first time in the monitoring series, Robert Kyagulanyi edged ahead of Yoweri Museveni in newspaper story count, receiving 44% of candidate-focused print coverage compared to Museveni’s 37%. On television, the two candidates were nearly level in total airtime: Kyagulanyi received 36% compared to Museveni’s 35.2%, the narrowest gap recorded across any platform in any monitoring period to date. Whether this reflected a genuine shift in editorial practice, the natural progression of the campaign, or other factors, it is a development worth tracking in the month ahead.
Museveni continued to lead on radio, taking up 42% of candidate airtime, with Kyagulanyi receiving just over a third. The gap was wider on digital platforms, where Museveni accounted for close to half of all candidate-focused stories against Kyagulanyi’s share of less than 2 in 5. On newspaper front pages, the pattern from previous months persisted, with Museveni featuring in 59% of all front-page candidate stories and Kyagulanyi at 30%.
Gender representation in election coverage showed no improvement in December, and remains a consistent failing across all platforms. On radio, 85% of sources were male. Digital platforms and print were similar, with men accounting for more than 4 in every 5 online sources and roughly 3 in every 4 in print. Television recorded the least imbalance of any platform monitored, though 75% of its sources were male, a figure that falls well short of any reasonable measure of balance. The data has remained essentially unchanged since July. For an electorate that is roughly half female, the cumulative effect is a persistent and significant absence of women’s voices, experiences, and perspectives from the coverage shaping public understanding of the election.
From station to station, a different election
One of the most striking findings in the December data comes from radio coverage in Karamoja, where Museveni and Kyagulanyi received equal shares of candidate airtime at 44% each. In November, Museveni had accounted for 91% of the region’s candidate airtime, making December’s distribution a dramatic and unexpected shift. One possible explanation is that the campaign had not yet reached Karamoja in significant terms during the earlier monitoring periods, and that as candidates began to campaign in the region, coverage naturally broadened to reflect their presence. Whether this change signals a more sustained shift in how the region’s media covers the election, or is a reflection of campaign activity rather than any change in editorial practice, will become clearer in subsequent monitoring rounds.
The December data more broadly reveals that where a station is based, who owns it, and who its audience is shapes coverage in ways that are difficult to ignore. Amongst Kampala-based private television stations, a clear pattern emerged. BBS, the Buganda Kingdom’s station based in Mengo, gave Kyagulanyi 67% of its candidate airtime, the highest proportion of any station monitored. NBS, the Next Media station, also leaned towards Kyagulanyi at 64%. NTV Uganda, owned by the Nation Media Group, allocated 41% of candidate airtime to Kyagulanyi and 33% to Mafabi, giving Museveni just 8%, the lowest of any station.
UBC presents a picture that is difficult to reconcile with its public mandate. The state broadcaster, which holds the widest national reach of any television station in Uganda, allocated 78% of its candidate airtime to Museveni. Kyagulanyi received just 6%, less than 1 in 20 minutes of candidate coverage. The gap between UBC’s coverage and that of the private Kampala stations is the widest recorded across any comparable outlets in this monitoring series.
TV West, the Vision Group’s regional station based in Mbarara and broadcasting to audiences across western Uganda, gave Museveni 44% of candidate airtime. This is consistent with radio data from the same region, where Museveni accounted for 63% of candidate airtime, suggesting that the pattern of dominant coverage in the west is not a function of any single platform but reflects something broader about the region’s media environment.
Improvements and shortfalls
One of the more significant shifts in December is on the interrogation of candidate claims and the right of reply, where print and digital platforms recorded notable improvements that set them apart from previous monitoring periods. Radio and television, however, showed no such progress, and given radio’s reach as the primary information channel for most Ugandans, the figures on that platform remain a significant concern.
- Print improved markedly on scrutiny. In stories containing candidate claims, 42% were interrogated, up from 21% in November. Nearly two thirds of stories containing attacks offered the right of reply, compared to just over a third the previous month.
- Online platforms showed the sharpest improvement. Two thirds of stories interrogated candidate claims, compared to fewer than 1 in 7 in November. The right of reply was offered in 71% of stories, up from 15% in November.
- Radio remained the weakest performer on scrutiny. Fewer than 1 in 250 stories containing candidate claims interrogated them, and the right of reply was offered in just 1.7% of cases.
- Television left most claims unchallenged. Nearly 9 in 10 television stories containing candidate claims did not interrogate them, and only 3% of stories offered a right of reply.
- Print led on source diversity and reporting depth. More than a third of newspaper stories drew on five or more sources, and newspapers were the only platform to cite ordinary citizens as their most frequent source category at 28% of all sources. Enterprise and interpretive reporting was recorded in 22% of newspaper stories, compared to 4% on television and none on radio or digital platforms.
Campaign rallies and events continued to drive the news agenda, originating roughly 3 in every 5 television stories and more than half of print, digital, and radio coverage. Independent reporting by journalists was effectively absent on radio and digital platforms. In print, 22% of stories originated from independent reporting by journalists, a modest but consistent positive against a broader pattern of event-driven election reporting.
The story is not yet over
The December monitoring report is the latest in a series that ACME has been building since the 2015/16 electoral cycle, when it first began systematically tracking how Uganda’s media covers elections. Each successive round of monitoring adds to that longitudinal record, making it possible to assess not just what the media is doing now, but whether standards and practices are shifting over time. A final report drawing together the findings from the full 2026 electoral cycle will be published after the conclusion of the election.
Monitoring is one part of ACME’s broader engagement with election reporting. Alongside these reports, ACME has conducted training for journalists on election reporting, and mentored editors to establish election desks and develop plans for deeper, citizen-centred election coverage. ACME has also published its updated Guidelines for Media Coverage of Elections in Uganda, a resource that sets out standards for thorough, balanced, and fact-based election reporting.
Download the December summary report here.
