SECTOR 2

Furthermore, the Communication Act also deals with issues regarding crossownership under Section 85 (8), stating that:
When considering an application for the issue of a broadcasting licence
the Authority must have regard to (c) the desirability or otherwise of
allowing any person or association of persons, to have control of or a
substantial interest in: (i) more than one broadcasting service; (ii) more
than one radio station and one television station and one registered
newspaper with a common coverage and distribution area or significantly
overlapping coverage and distribution areas.
In Namibia, there are no major media monopolies, but media concentration does
exist. NMH, for example, owns three daily newspapers – the Namibian Sun, Die
Republikein and the Algemeine Zeitung, as well as some weeklies and a few
supplements often published across their other papers.
Due to the high costs of printing, some of the larger papers have resorted to
investing in their own printing presses. NMH owns Newsprint Namibia, which
prints all the stable’s newspapers, as well as the New Era. The Namibia Media
Trust (NMT), which publishes The Namibian, also owns Wordpress, which prints
The Namibian, its various supplements, some weekly papers such as The Patriot
and a number of newsletters and advertising publications.
Max Hamata, the former editor of Informanté and the current owner and editor
of Confidenté newspaper, also owns Max Media Printers. In June 2018, Newsprint
Namibia took New Era Publication Corporation (NEPC) to court when it started
printing New Era and Kundana with Max Media Printers. Newsprint Namibia
claimed that they had been awarded the tender to print these publications.
Max Media Printers contested this claim. The court ruled in favour of Newsprint
Namibia and ordered NEPC to continue printing with Newsprint until the tender
had been correctly re-advertised and set procedures followed.
With regards to broadcasting, there is also some concentration. For example,
JACC FM (previously Kudu Radio) and Radiowave have the same owners.

Scores:
Individual scores:
1

Country does not meet indicator

2

Country meets only a few aspects of indicator

3

Country meets some aspects of indicator

4

Country meets most aspects of indicator

5

Country meets all aspects of the indicator

Average score:
Score of previous years:

28

AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2018

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3.3
2005: 2.3; 2007: 2.1; 2009: 2.7; 2011: 3.6; 2015: 2.6

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