SECTOR 4 4.5 Journalists and media houses have integrity and are not corrupt Corruption does exist in the media, but the scale of this corruption is not clear and as one panellist put it: ‘I would like to think that for the most part, the media have a high level of credibility. I would hope that there are a lot of checks and balances and that when we open a paper, the content is not skewed by corrupt practice.’ Panellists noted that the corruption that does take place takes on many forms. There may be corruption in terms of financial benefits, but there are also other benefits, such as being seen in certain circles of power. One panellist noted an example whereby a certain newspaper refused to publish a story about a maid working at the Spanish embassy, seemingly to keep favour within diplomatic circles. A panellist also noted that in radio, there have been several cases of sex and other favours for interviews. ‘It’s normal in this country.’ The above notwithstanding, it is promising to note that the office of the media ombudsman has not received any complaints about journalists asking for money or favours. Panellists noted that corruption does not only take place at the level of the journalists and reporters, but also at the management and ownership level. As one remarked: ‘If media houses are owned by “tenderpreneurs” [business people or entrepreneurs specialising in government tendered projects], how can they not be corrupt?’ Most media houses require that journalists declare freebies provided to them. It is common that various organisations will provide journalists with transportation and sometimes with accommodation when outside their place of residence to attend their events. It was noted with concern that this practice could skew the angle of reporting. 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: 53 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2018 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓✓ ✓ ✓✓✓ ✓ 3.2 2005: n/a; 2007: n/a; 2009: 3.6; 2011: 2.6; 2015: 2.9 ✓