Type Daily newspaper Publisher New Vision Group | Format Broadsheet Founded 1986 | |
 | ||
Owner(s) Government of Uganda
Institutional & Individual Investors Headquarters 2-4 First Street, Kampala, Uganda | ||
The New Vision is one of two main national newspapers in Uganda. It is published by the Vision Group, which has its head office on First Street, in the Industrial Area of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city in that East African country.
Contents
History
It was established in its current form in 1986 by the Ugandan government. It was founded in 1955 as the Uganda Argus, a British colonial government publication. Between 1962 and 1971, the first Obote government kept the name of its daily publication as Uganda Argus. Following the rise to power of Idi Amin in 1971, the government paper was renamed Voice of Uganda. When Amin was deposed in 1979, the second Obote government named its paper Uganda Times. When the National Resistance Movement seized power in 1986, the name of the daily newspaper was changed to New Vision. The Uganda Argus and its successors always presented as the "official" newspaper of the regime in power.
Vision Group
The holding company that owns the New Vision newspaper is The New Vision Printing & Publishing Company Limited, also referred to as the Vision Group. The Group owned other newspapers, radio stations, and two television stations as of October 2009.
Leadership controversies
On 12 October 2006, William Pike, chief executive officer (CEO) of the newspaper, resigned followed by Editor-in-Chief David Sseppuuya less than two weeks later. Pike had a long history with the paper, starting there as a sports journalist 19 years before. Pike was largely credited with maintaining a degree of editorial independence for the newspaper, though not as much as the fully independent Daily Monitor, the second-largest daily newspaper in Uganda. It was reported in 2006 that "press freedom in Uganda might be in jeopardy", and that Pike was being "forced to resign apparently at the behest of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni".
Pike's departure was followed by the appointment of Ugandan government spokesman Robert Kabushenga as CEO. As of July 2014, Kabushenga was still the CEO.
In late November 2006, Belgian journalist and activist Els de Temmerman became editor-in-chief after receiving written guarantees of her editorial independence. She resigned her post on 24 October 2008, stating "I have concluded that I can no longer count on the assurances I received when I accepted the job and so I must resign". In February 2009, Els de Temmerman returned as the editor-in-chief after a four-month absence. She resigned for the final time in mid April 2010, making room for her deputy, Barbara Kaija, who was formally appointed as the editor-in-chief.