Targeting specific programming, the President, in August 2003 urged the NBC “to stop showing this so-called Big Brother Africa and to start showing the history of Namibia.” Ironically, Big Brother Africa (BBA) was one of the most popular programmes on the NBC in 2003. The daily BBA highlights survived September’s ‘new image’ overhaul. The reality show was almost at an end and there would have been little point in hauling it off the airwaves just days before its climax. Public pressure (mainly in the form of calls to radio phone-in programmes) also forced the NBC to reverse a decision to switch the popular soap opera ‘Passions’ from its 20h30 starting time to a late night slot. The NBC has set itself a target of introducing a quota of 80 per cent indigenous TV programmes within three years. At the moment it would appear its main strategy for achieving this is to show programmes featuring unedited footage of dignitaries visiting the President, rather than making any obvious effort to improve the quality and credibility of local programming. Ironically, towards the end of the year the NBC announced it would be producing programmes in collaboration with Endemol (the Dutch company behind Big Brother) - much to the chagrin of local independent filmmakers who were hopeful of getting a share of the NBC’s programming cake. In the light of the NBC’s unwavering commitment to State propaganda, the launch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Namibia’s campaign for an independently regulated public broadcaster was timely. The new Information Minister Nangolo Mbumba expressed Government’s disdain for such notions of independence when he told a workshop on a draft communications bill in July: “If the State no longer has a say in the mandate of the public broadcaster, funding to the public broadcaster from State coffers will have to be reconsidered. It does not make business sense to fund an institution and not be able to reprimand the institution if it no longer serves the needs So This Is Democracy? 2003 64 Media Institute of Southern Africa LESOTHO MALAWI MOZAMBIQUE NAMIBIA The ‘new image’ followed an order from President Sam Nujoma in October 2002 that the NBC must reduce foreign programming content, some of which he said was corrupting the youth. SOUTH AFRICA For the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) it was a case of ‘the more things change the more they stay the same’. The state-owned broadcaster completed a painful restructuring process with over 100 staff taking voluntary retrenchment in the first three months of the year. In addition there was much talk of the need for new indigenous programming. A ‘new image’ was eventually launched in September 2003, but despite the fanfare the mix of programmes and the sycophantic nature of news broadcasts remained largely the same - although broadcasting hours did increase to include a breakfast television programme. SWAZILAND T he year under review, 2003, was in many ways a year of stasis for the Namibian media, but the apparent calm belied a number of worrying trends. The State media remained mired in obsequiousness to the government despite promises of a new image and even ‘revolution’. The independent media’s relationship with the government continued to be problematic, but did not markedly deteriorate. TANZANIA by Graham Hopwood Graham Hopwood is an independent media consultant. He has worked as a journalist in Namibia since 1992. ZIMBABWE ZAMBIA Namibia BOTSWANA ANGOLA State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003