SECTOR 4 Panellists felt that for the most part, there is no discrimination with respect to ethnicity, race, LGBTI individuals, or religion, although there may be external critique on religious dress. ‘At NBC, we have a journalist who is Muslim and who used to wear her religious dress and a lot of people complained about this.’ On the ethnicity issue, one panellist noted that more conscious efforts are required to ensure that people who are not from the dominant ethnic group (Aawambo) do not feel alienated or discriminated against. ‘Unfortunately, there is not a conscious effort to address this issue and this, strictly speaking, amounts to indirect discrimination. We’re not addressing the issues where people feel discriminated and are therefore perpetuating the status quo, which is discriminatory in itself.’ There is no clear national framework to monitor ethnicity in the workplace and although the Employment Equity Commission does monitor gender and race – it only collects data from eligible employers. With respect to people with disabilities, discrimination does exist and one panellist questioned why there are so few media practitioners with disabilities despite the large number of disabled students studying media at the various learning institutions. A panellist noted that for people with disabilities, in the employment search process conversations quickly shift from their abilities (i.e. qualifications) to their physical disabilities. They also noted that physical accessibility (e.g. for wheelchairs) is not well considered in many Namibian newsrooms. Scores: Individual scores: 1 57 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: 3.0 2005: n/a; 2007: n/a; 2009: n/a; 2011: 2.4; 2015: 2.8 Overall Score for Sector 4: 2.9 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2018