The role played by media in social unrest has been an issue of discussion all over the world. Although media influence has increased tremendously in the last decade, researchers are yet to agree on the impact of politics on the performance of media. The context of analysis of politics on the performance of media in Kampala District that revealed media can act as a double-edged sword. The study reviewed various literature on hate speeches & messages, political participation & violence, social protest movements and challenges facing media reporting. From the review the study adopted a conceptual framework developed from the libertarian theory and social responsibility theory of media reporting based on Aday Andersen (1974) & Buor (2004) with the propagation of social unrest as the dependent variable which relies on the media political incitement as the independent variable. In addition, people’s response to conflict coverage is persuaded by their level of democratization, form of media, access to information and level of political maturity as intervening variables. This study investigated the impact of politics on the performance of media in Kampala district. The objectives of the study were to examine the nature of media political incitement in Kampala, document the different types of social unrest that have been caused by politics on the performance of media in Kampala and establish the challenges facing media in reporting on political issues in Kampala. The study used a cross sectional survey design, applied qualitative and quantitative approaches and collected data using interviews and questionnaires. Stratified random sampling technique was applied to the study population of 209,500 people from the Kampala district from which the sample of 84 participants were selected. The study found that politics on the performance of media in Kampala district was escalated by vernacular (local) FM stations. In particular, 76.7% of the media in Kampala, publish content with hate speeches and 60.4% broadcast messages of hatred and intolerance through media platforms like Twitter, Facebook (69.4%) on a monthly basis. Most of the incitement makes most people uneasy (76.7%), resulting in social unrest (53.5%) aimed at influencing Government decisions. This was associated with the wave of murders, kidnapping as the residents (>50%) were expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership (53.5%). The media however faced harassment from the police and some of the publics (58.9%) were unconformable talking to media on political issues. The study concluded that media in Kampala district politically incite people through hate messages, publishing content with hate messages, preaching hatrage and intolerance which promotes social unrest. The political incitement is through platforms like Twitter, Facebook making most people uneasy and could result in social unrest associated with the wave of murders, kidnapping as the residents and aimed at influencing Government decisions. Residents expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership, were unconformable talking to media on political issues and asserted that media faced harassment from the police. Received: 13.10.2023 Accepted: 18.10.2023 Published on: 30.10.2023 Corresponding: Author: asiimweisaac@gmail.com M31E5 TROPOLITAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH RESEARCH ISSN: 1813-4270 Vol. 2 Issue 7, October - 2023, Pages: 314-329