4.6 Journalists and editors do not practice self-censorship. ANALYSIS: There is the impression that cases of self-censorship do exist in both state and private media, partly as a result of ownership. Informanté, for example, seems to be very partial to exposing others, but does not report on negative stories about the newspaper’s owners: the paper ignored the story about Trustco’s Managing Director Quinton van Rooyen being involved in an accident, which resulted in the death of another driver, but the paper did publish a story about the editor of another newspaper being arrested for drunken driving. Compared to 2005, self-censorship, in general, seems to be less common at New Era, but this improved record was tainted by the firing of D’aoud Vries (see indicator 2,6). As previously mentioned (also in indicator 2.6) there appears to be no self-censorship at NAMPA. Since Pohamba took over the presidency, there also seems to be less self-censorship evident at the NBC. SCORES: Individual scores: 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3 Average score: 2.8 (2005 = 2.5) 4.7 Owners of private media do not interfere with editorial independence. ANALYSIS: There is a feeling that owners of private media do interfere with editorial independence, but the degree to which this happens varies among media houses. Direct and indirect interference was likely at Informanté, as it is a large company with many commercial interests (see indicator 4.6). Increasingly, Die Republikein has been writing favourably about the Republican Party, the party that started the newspaper before joining the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA). Although the newspaper is now part of the DMH group, since the Republican Party broke away from the DTA in late 2003, the newspaper’s editorial stance has appeared to reflect the Republican voice. Owned by a trust, The Namibian’s trustees appear to have little say in the content or production of the newspaper. It is worth noting, however, that since the newspaper became a co-shareholder with Trustco in Free Press Printers, Trustco-related stories have received front-page priority a number of times. It was mentioned that Insight appears to be run fairly democratically, even to the point that individual journalists do not receive credit for their stories but remain anonymous. Community media are not seen to be as impartial as they should be, with UNAM Radio having to reflect the University of Namibia (UNAM) in a positive light, and Katutura Community Radio (KCR) operating as a mouthpiece for non-governmental organisations rather than truly reflecting community issues So This Is Democracy? 2007 -217- Media Institute of Southern Africa