SECTOR 2

The regional offices of MICT are also equipped to create content from the
regions. ‘Content is being produced, but it is not being filtered through to be
broadcast to the whole country.’
According to a survey by the Community Broadcasting Network, community radio
stations are more effective than private and public media houses at broadcasting
community content. ‘I watch NBC news every day, but I only see petitions being
handed over and activities related to the Ministries. As Namibians, we don’t
know about each other and about what is happening in different regions.’
With regards to investigative reporting, panellists noted that ‘as far as they
can, the media invest time and expertise into investigative work’, citing The
Namibian as a strong example. The newspaper has worked with media houses
across the country’s borders to break strong investigative stories. That said, the
Namibian media could do more in conducting investigative pieces, but panellists
acknowledged that sufficient resources are often lacking. NBC is particularly
limited in terms of investigative work ‘because it has a particular mandate and is
required to report more broadly than the private media’.

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:

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✓

✓
✓✓

2.7
2005: 3.1; 2007: 3.7; 2009: 3.1; 2011: 2.7; 2015: 2.4

2.10 Private broadcasters deliver a minimum of quality
public interest programmes
Panellists noted that for the most part, private broadcasters are not doing
enough to deliver public interest programmes. ‘Some are making an effort, but
not enough.’
Notable exceptions, however, include Kosmos Radio ‘which has a regular slot
with the prime minister as well as a programme where they go out with the city
police, amongst others’, and One Africa TV.
‘One Africa is even leaps and bounds ahead of NBC. They have a good
programme, It’s a Wrap, which covers many topics that wouldn’t otherwise
appear on national TV. Also, One Africa’s production is at a level that competes
with many of the international media outlets and they cover several topics of
public interest.’

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AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2018

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