This post is part of our special coverage Uganda: Walk to Work Protests. Uganda walks a fine line when it comes to press freedom. At times, it is amazing the things that journalists are allowed to write or broadcast in criticism of the government. Then, suddenly, someone will cross that fine line and find himself or herself in jail, or worse. Many see a steady decline in press freedom in Uganda, particularly with the 2011 elections approaching. International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) reported on two journalists beaten while covering a campaign rally in Lira in January: Lira, 22/Jan/2011 – Michael Kakumirizi, a “Red Pepper” publications photojournalist, was mobbed by suspected supporters of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party while covering an opposition presidential candidate's campaign rally in the Lango sub-region. Francis Tumwekwasize, a former WBS TV journalist now affiliated with the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC) Press Unit, was also beaten. The IPC is a coalition of opposition political parties that nominated retired Colonel Dr. Kiiza Besigye as their candidate for the Ugandan presidency. The journalists were roughed up by the suspected NRM supporters, who accused them of taking their pictures while they were allegedly bribing voters at the Aloi Police Post, in the newly created Alebeatong district, in an attempt to keep residents away from Dr. Kizza Besigye's 19 January rally in the area. When a camera flash went off, the NRM supporters realised that there were journalists among a group of residents they had called to the Aloi Police Post to receive money. In a more recent release, Human Rights Watch and IFEX draw attention to 16 activists and journalists who have been arrested and harassed for spreading a petition asking the 330 Members of Parliament to return questionable payments of up to 20 million Ugandan shillings (about $9,000) they have received in the last two weeks from the ruling party to “monitor government programs.” Widely seen as a bribe, the money was released at a time when the Ugandan government has already spent 85% of its budget halfway through the fiscal year. About a quarter of the national budget was disbursed in January alone, the month before the elections. Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ-Uganda) published a statement from the Pakistan Press Foundation condemning an attack by Special Force Guards on a television correspondent who filmed an altercation at a campaign venue: Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), an independent non-governmental institution committed to promoting and defending freedom of expression, is concerned about the detention of Masaka based NTV Uganda correspondent Issa Aliga by the Special Forces Group (the bigger presidential protection unit SFG) for filming a scuffle involving Rwemiyaga area Member of Parliament Theodore Ssekikubo ahead of President Museveni’s campaign rally. …While filming he was roughed up and man-handled by four Special Force Guards personnel who confiscated his camera. He was pushed here and there on accusation of filming an event without permission. He was taken to their bus and interrogated for some minutes. After interrogation, he was released and his pleas to get his camera back fail on deaf ears. He was then ordered to go through the usual security checks and attend a campaign rally like any other voters. His mobile phone was also switched off. The Committee to Protect Journalists highlighted two incidents, in August and November of 2010, involving radio reporters being detained and harassed by the police: On November 3, 2010, four armed men kidnapped Nzito, a 23-year old Radio Simba reporter who covered crime and occasionally opposition parties, and threw him into a pickup truck with tinted windows. “I spent 10 days locked in a dark room with my hands and legs handcuffed and remained on the floor. I was not given any real meals or food. The army men would come and scare me in the night,” he told CPJ. Assailants using the same truck eventually dumped Nzito outside the capital, Kampala, according to local journalists. His release came a day after HRNJ-Uganda filed a habeas corpus in court compelling the army commander, the attorney general, and the head of a security agency to produce the journalist. HRNJ-Uganda said its investigations determined that the journalist had been in the custody of Uganda's Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force. Nzito told CPJ he frequently experiences nightmares now.