"I'm the chief here, and I could have you arrested."

Those were the first words I heard from Ugandan media official Robert Kabushenga in the predawn darkness of his building's parking lot.

I was part of a group of journalists gathering to trek to President Yoweri Museveni's rural retreat – a four-hour ride from the capital.

Mr. Kabushenga's intro was probably meant as jocular and funny. But it was a strange way for him introduce himself to the foreign press.

Several hours later, though, when Mr. Museveni greeted the journalists by calling us "rumormongers," I could see the antipathy toward the press came from the top.

People here worry the government is becoming increasingly militarized – and unfriendly to the press, which traditionally has been relatively free here, despite occasional harassment.

Because I don't live in Uganda permanently, it's hard to tell how true that is. But, if this reporting trip is any indication, the government does seem to be growing more wary of an increasingly critical press.

Much of this material appears in the Reporters on the Job feature in the Feb. 23 issue of The Christian Science Monitor.

There’s a tradition around Africa that when people get their pictures taken, they stare stone-faced into the camera.

To an American eye it looks so severe and dour. My hunch is that it’s because there aren't all that many personal cameras on the continent. Most photos here are taken for formal portraits, passport pictures, ID badges, etc. That's in contrast to the US, where most photos are informal snapshots taken with the millions of cameras that Americans own.

But it hasn’t always been that way. Think of the black-and-white portraits from the 19th century of people like Abraham Lincoln. They're all stone-faced and serious. Back then, picture-taking was a new and rare technology. Having your portrait done was a serious event. No smiles, please.

Well, it’s the same today in Africa. I may be chatting amiably with some person who’s laughing and smiling, but the minute I take out my camera, they get all serious.

So I’ve taken to telling people here about the American habit of saying "cheese" before a picture is taken. They, understandably, think this is quite strange – and begin smiling and laughing at this odd American custom. And that’s exactly what I want. They’re back to their smiling selves. And I get the picture that, to American eyes, looks natural.