Working at NBS Television: How I moved from intern to staff at Next Media Services 

Almost  a year ago, on February 26, 2022, my dream came true when I was given a chance to intern for two months at NBS Television, which is under Next Media Services. 

For many years as a student at Buloba Secondary School and Uganda Christian University, I had looked up to the big names at NBS like Canary Mugume, Julius Bukyana, Daniel Lutaaya and Solomon Ssewanjja as my idols. With this internship, I was being given the opportunity to work with them! 

I consider them my mentors and I had taken seriously their advice that the first task of a TV journalist is to look good because that captures attention and in time projects authority. To look good, you have to dress well. As a student with no independent income, that was my first challenge. 

A child of a single mother, I had to borrow money from friends and “bench” my mother whenever she could spare some money so I could buy my first suit. My other mentor and boss Dalton Kaweesa, who needs the NBS Television newsroom, often emphasises, “The source will give you the quality you project. Arrive on time, arrive in class.” 

While he is a kind, understanding man, Kaweesa is no joker when it comes to insisting you meet the targets of work you agreed to. Very quickly, I learned that I had to find a way of juggling my UCU study responsibilities with what I was assigned in the newsroom. Let me tell you, it was not easy! 

I had to start waking up at 4:30am so I could write out my story ideas that I would pitch to the newsroom later in the morning. The pitching process of any newsroom, I have heard, is tough but it is tougher when you are the youngest in the room, pitching to journalists who are experienced.  Any weakness in your pitch is exposed without mercy, you can go cry in the bathroom or stay and defend your idea. 

I had to be in office by 6am, struggling with Kampala’s unreliable transport system, without fail. I would find my editors like Madam Goretti Kyeswa or Nelson Babyale with tasks lined up for me that I had to fulfil without fail through the day, if I hoped to be done by 4pm and rush back to the UCU campus for my classes. 

All the time I was constantly being pushed to prepare myself for the day when I might be called upon to  “do a real story,” as the country sunk into the challenges of the COVID-19 lockdown. Working in the lockdown in Uganda was a real taste of fire as no one knew when it would end or whether it would have the toll in the hundreds of thousands dead as it affected Europe and Asia. 

My mother and relatives were naturally very concerned for my well being but I think it was in this period that I discovered the difference between journalism being a job and it being a calling. I was ready to risk my life to do my job, despite being taught in school that, “No story is worth your life.” 

I had seen my fellow journalists from Canary Mugume to the Josephine Namakumbi’s risking being teargassed and beaten to bring the story to our viewers and I did not want to do any less. Our boss Kin Kariisa always tells us, “If we are not there, no one will be,” challenging us to tell stories that inform and transform Uganda and the region. 

One of the proudest moments of my life was being offered a permanent position at Next Media Services by Kin Kariisa himself at our in-house NEXT MEDIA TALKS on March 25, 2022. As he handed me a certificate of recognition, Kariisa implored me to know, “The real work begins now.” 

I’m working!