School of Languages, Literature and Communication (SLLC) Collections

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 218
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    Assessing fake news on X during the 2021 Ugandan presidential election
    (Makerere University, 2026) Karane, Tuhirirwe Mihanda
    The study assessed fake news on X during Uganda’s 2021 presidential elections using three objectives: (1). The first objective established how X users interacted with the fake news, while the second objective identified the themes in X fake news. The third objective identified ways through which fake news can be mitigated without prejudicing free speech. Two theoretical views of political communication, agenda setting and social cognition were utilized to assess fake news during Uganda’s 2021 presidential elections. It was mixed methods research which involved collecting data using tools such as content analysis, interviews and survey. The key findings indicate the dominance of young people aged 25-34 as X users during the 2021 presidential elections. The study also found that the majority of X users could not distinguish between fake news and genuine information shared on the microblogging platform. The findings also suggest that fake news themes intended to incite the public, instill fear to show rivals as violent and hooligans, to show that some political candidates had bowed out of the race, engaging in voter bribery and ballot staffing. Furthermore, the study outcomes showed that fake news can be mitigated by providing factual information and addressing public ignorance. The study recommends that the communication regulator, Uganda Communication Commission (UCC), should partner with reputable media houses to conduct mass sensitization on how to fact-check social media information to reduce the huge percentages of social media users who just share and comment about social media information before verifying whether it’s true or concocted. The researcher recommends that politicians at all levels should be sensitized on the impact of creating, sharing or circulating fake news on society. Also, political parties should take initiative to educate their supporters on how to spot, and respond to fake news.
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    The representation of an eco-community in Timothy Wangusa's selected poetry
    (Makerere University, 2025) Wegoyi, Jafal
    This study investigates the representation of an eco-community in Timothy Wangusa's selected poetry. It explores how the poet articulates ecological consciousness and communal identity through imaginative and linguistic strategies rooted in African cosmology and cultural heritage. The research is framed around three central themes that together shape an eco-poetic vision: the tripartite connection between humans, the landscape, and animals; the human-nature-spirit connection; and language as a tool for mapping interconnectivity from an eco-linguistic perspective. First, the study examines the tripartite connection between humans, the landscape, and animals, arguing that Wangusa constructs a vision of an eco-community where these entities coexist in reciprocal and interdependent relationships. The landscape, particularly elements like "mountains, soil, and rivers," are depicted not merely as physical features but as living entities that hold memory, sustains life, and interacts meaningfully with humans and non-human creatures. Animals, in Wangusa's poetry are not passive subjects but active participants in the ecosystem, reflecting the world view that challenges anthropocentric models and embraces holistic interdependence. Secondly, the study explorers the human-nature-spirit connection, showing how Wangusa blurs the boundaries between the physical and metaphysical. Nature is portrayed as both material and spiritual, acting as a mediator between the living and the ancestral realm. Through his poetic imagination, Wangusa presents natural elements as sacred repositories of memory, origin, and identity. This connection affirms the belief in nature's animacy and its role in embodying cultural and spiritual values. It also reflects how traditional African ecological thought recognises the sacredness of the land and it's centrality to personal and communal being. The study will focus on language and the representation of connectivity, drawing from eco-linguistics to examine how Wangusa employs language as both a cultural and ecological tool. His use of indigenous terms, bilingual expressions, and poetic narrative techniques localises his poetry and situates the environment within the lived experiences of the community. This linguistic rootedness reinforces ecological meaning by showing that language itself reflects relationships with the land. It further reveals how communication between humans and nature is culturally constructed and symbolically powerful. The study is grounded in ecocriticism, particularly drawing on the Biophilia Hypothesis theory developed by Kellert and Wilson (1993), which suggests an innate human affinity with nature. It also incorporates Lawrence Buell's concept of environmental representation to examine how ecological relationships are constructed in literary texts. The research employs a qualitative, library-based approach using textual analysis. It involves close reading of Wangusa's selected poems, focusing on both thematic and structural elements, to explore intertextuality and the construction of ecological awareness. Overall, this study argues that Wangusa's poetry offers a compelling ecological vision grounded in the African experience. His poetic strategies do more than celebrate nature for they challenge dominant discourses by presenting interconnectedness as a cultural, spiritual, and ecological truth. In doing so, Wangusa contributes to the broader field of African eco-poetics by emphasising the need to view humans, landscapes, and non-human beings as part of one coexistent system.
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    An analysis on the usage of artificial intelligence for public relations in Uganda
    (Makerere University, 2025) Nabende, Denis Peter
    This study examined the use of AI within public relations practice in Uganda. Given the limited body of scholarship on this subject in the Ugandan context, the study sought to address this gap by exploring how AI is utilized in the country’s public relations and communication management sector: Specifically, the AI tools used, its effectiveness, and the challenges faced by public relations practitioners in employing AI for PR work. The study was quantitative in nature and guided by the Domestication Theory and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The Domestication Theory offered insights into how these AI technologies are appropriated, adapted, and integrated into everyday professional routines within specific cultural and organizational contexts, while TAM provided a framework for understanding how perceived usefulness and ease of use influence practitioners’ attitudes and intentions toward adopting AI tools for public relations. The survey method was used, and the data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire developed and administered using Google Forms and analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS V25). Study findings indicate that PR practitioners were familiar with using AI in public relations, though they lacked formal training in its application. It was found that AI has helped to enhance the efficiency of public relations tasks, improve the accuracy of data analysis in PR campaigns, and aid decision-making. However, challenges related to high costs associated with acquiring tools and software, lack of technical knowledge, limited availability of AI tools tailored for PR work, and resistance from colleagues and management, among others, affect its use. The study recommended that to enhance the effectiveness of AI usage, organizations should provide formal training programs specifically tailored for PR practitioners to bridge the knowledge gap. Since a significant portion of PR practitioners use AI tools daily, it is recommended that firms incorporate continuous learning and up-skilling initiatives to help PR professionals keep pace with the rapid advancements in AI technology.
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    Newsroom culture and female journalists’ attrition in Ugandan media: a case of The Daily Monitor Newspaper
    (Makerere University, 2025) Aduk, Flora Angol
    This study, titled “Newsroom Culture and Female Journalists’ Attrition in Ugandan Newsrooms: A Case of the Daily Monitor Newspaper,” explores the perceived relationship between newsroom culture and the attrition of female journalists in Uganda. The study focuses on Daily Monitor as a case study, which allowed the researcher to have an in-depth analysis of the subject since it generates a wealth of knowledge in social scientific fields. The study is anchored on the perceived aspects of newsroom culture that affect female journalists’ performance and cause them to leave the newsroom. Despite near gender parity in the media, research has found that more women are leaving the newsroom the world over, including Uganda. The study sought to find answers to the following questions: i) What are the perceived aspects of newsroom culture that affect the performance of female journalists, leading to attrition? ii) What is the perceived nature of female journalists’ attrition in Ugandan newsrooms? and iii) In what ways can newsroom culture be improved to attract and retain more female journalists? Data was collected through qualitative methods, which offered the researcher an opportunity to participate actively in data collection and respond accordingly. The study was guided by the Feminist Media Theory, the Sarah Longwe Empowerment Framework and the Hierarchy of Influences model. The key findings of the study indicate that the culture of working long hours and violence, physical and online, drives female journalists’ decision to leave newsrooms. The study revealed that female journalists are most likely to leave newsrooms due to family pressures associated with work-life balance, thus those with children or married are most likely to leave. The study also noted that there are gaps in the response of news organisations to the challenges faced by female journalists in the newsrooms and that news organisation owners and leaders can and should play a critical role in the retention of female journalists in newsrooms. The study concludes that there is an urgent need for news organisations to address and transform their organisational cultures if they are to retain and empower more female journalists in the newsrooms.
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    Exploring strategies used by the office of the auditor general to sustain media relations
    (Makerere University, 2025) Nakibuule, Ethel
    This study explored the strategies employed by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) to maintain effective media relations. It was grounded in the public relation theory and information theory. It adopted a mixed methods research approach, utilizing in-depth interviews and structured interviews for data collection. The findings show that the OAG employs strategies such as press conferences, distribution of hard copy reports, and media facilitation to maintain media relations and that these strategies promote transparency and accountability by exposing corruption, gathering corruption-related information, and increasing public denunciation of corrupt acts. The study also found that greater access to information, empowerment of public relations officers, more one on one interviews, and enhanced use of social media were some of the ways the OAG could improve their media relations practice. The study concluded that institutions need several efforts to study media relations, and that there are still challenges those public institutions such OAG need to address to improve and sustain good media relations.