SECTOR 4

Members of the panel from civil society also complained about the quality of
interviews. ‘Sometimes journalists ask the personalities they are interviewing to
provide the questions they want them to ask. So, the interviewee ends up setting
the agenda, not the journalist conducting the interview.’ ‘That’s why some of the
content is very boring to watch – because it’s just a little routine.’
Some panellists complained that several seasoned journalists and editors have left
the newsrooms of media houses and few practise as media lecturers. ‘Seasoned
journalists and editors are lacking and we also have millennials with an attitude!’
One panellist noted that there have been cases where media students have not
attended classes, or have had other people writing their exams for them. ‘So,
they have no training!’ It is unclear how common this practice is.
Beyond the formal education programmes, there are various media training
opportunities and some media houses provide on-the-job training for their
journalists. Many media training opportunities are, however, reliant on NGOs or
international organisations such as Deutsche Welle).
NMH has a media academy which provides in-house training to their journalists.
NBC has a training department which partners with organisations such as DW,
CCTV and Canal France International to provide capacity training to its media
staff.

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:

✓

✓
✓

✓✓✓✓✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

3.2
2005: 2.8; 2007: 3.0; 2009: 3.3; 2011: 2.7; 2015: 3.3

4.8 Equal opportunities regardless of race or ethnicity,
social group, gender/sex, religion, disabilities and
age are promoted in media houses
With regards to gender, in print media the majority of editors are male. This is
also the case with respect to management at most radio stations. Positively, NBC
has a strong policy to promote gender balance within its structures and there are
several women in leadership roles there.

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AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2018

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