advertisements or information, such as government employment opportunities, information about polio or how to vote, for example. There have been dissenting voices within the ruling party about the ban, notably from politician Hidipo Hamutenya in an article published in The Namibian in April 2007. It is worth noting that while former president Sam Nujoma claimed initially that the ban was a reaction to the paper’s critical reporting of the government, the Minister of Information and revealed this year that it was a result of criticism of Zimbabwe and its President Robert Mugabe, a close ally especially of Nujoma. In 2006 the state decided that government tenders would only be carried in the state-funded newspaper New Era and the Tender Bulletin. This could be seen as discrimination and creating an unfair advantage, as only readers of the state-funded newspaper would have access to government tenders. It is also a breach of standard tender regulations, which stipulate that government tenders should be published in at least two of the most-read newspapers in the country. SCORES: Individual scores: 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 Average score: 1.3 (2005 = 1.8) 2.13 The advertising market is large enough to maintain a diversity of media outlets. ANALYSIS: The advertising market is more vibrant than it was two years ago, although there is still a great deal of control over the production and placement of advertisements from South Africa. This means that Namibian talent (advertising agencies, musicians and models/actors, for example) loses out, and that the market is saturated with generic advertisements. While the big commercial newspapers are good at getting regional advertising (through the regional advertising agency CAPRO, for example), publications with smaller circulation figures, such as magazines, struggle in this regard. South African retail companies prefer to advertise in South African magazines, such as Drum and You, which are distributed in the region. In terms of television, local broadcasters miss out on regional advertising, which goes instead to South African-based satellite service, DSTV. SCORES: Individual scores: 4, 3, 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 Average score: 2.9 (2005 = 2.4) Overall score for sector 2: 2.6 (2005 = 2.7) So This Is Democracy? 2007 -205- Media Institute of Southern Africa