The tabloid, Red Pepper, could hurt the feelings of some people thanks to its unforgiving exposes but it laid the foundation for today’s rapidly changing online media news landscape.
See, many of the online news portals today were started by former Red Pepper employees. Why was this the case? Several reasons.
First, there was no job security at The Red Pepper. The directors could sack employees on a whim. This forced some of their reporters to start websites as a form of insurance.
Secondly, salaries at The Red Pepper never came on time. Staff at Red Pepper could go up to seven months without pay. Therefore, starting news websites was a form of survival for some staff.
Lastly, the working environment at The Red Pepper led staff to become fighters and strugglers. There was no lunch, health insurance, NSSF was never remitted on time and so many other things. This spirit led to the birth of some of the online news portals.
Here are some of the former Red Pepper staff who struck it on their own and founded news wensites that are some of the most popular in Uganda today.
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Giles Muhame
At Red Pepper, Giles Muhame was a laid-back reporter who was obsessed with writing stories hitting at the LGBTQI community. After a few years, he left to start a tabloid which suffered a stillbirth. He later co-founded Chimp Reports, one of the most prominent news websites even today. It has been in existence for more than 10 years.
Stanley Ndawula
Stanley Ndawula is a veteran journalist and one of the most prominent crime reporters of his generation. At Red Pepper, he covered the crime bit and wrote a number of investigative stories. He left to start The Investigator News where he continued breaking some of the biggest crime stories.
John Sserwaniko
At Red Pepper, Sserwaniko was always in the rush to break big stories. If he did not have a big story, he would never settle down. He was one of the paper’s long-serving and prolific reporters. With numerous news sources, he decided to found Mulengera News which has broken some of the biggest stories connected with corruption.
Nicholas Mwesigwa
Among fellow reporters, Mwesigwa was known as the gynecologist. We don’t know why. At Red Pepper, he was a political reporter who liked provoking FDC leaders with incisive articles about them. He left Red Pepper and founded Trumpet News, a news website.
Henry Mulindwa
He was nicknamed “brigadier” and was Red Pepper’s Chief Parliamentary Reporter. Some of his stories often landed him in trouble with parliamentary leadership. He was prolific. He now runs a news website known as The Inspector which appears to have specialized in covering stories related to activities of Vice President Jessica Alupo.
Andrew Irumba
Irumba, the Pan-Africanist, was a sales and marketing executive at The Red Pepper whose biggest account was Britannia. He left to start TheSpyUganda.com which is as sensational as The Red Pepper.
Richard Kintu
He was a reporter at The Red Pepper and is behind Second Opinion a general news website.
