The Protocol further lays down some specific objectives for States to achieve at a national level: 1. Cooperate on the promotion, establishment and growth of community, commercial, public, regional and global media for the free flow of information; 2. Strengthen public information institutions to be effective gatherers and disseminators of information and news; 3. Develop and promote regional culture, opinion and talent by increasing local content in the media such as magazines, radio, television, video, film and new information technologies; 4. Take positive measures to narrow the information gap between the rural and urban areas by increasing the coverage of the mass media, whether private, public or community-based; encourage the use of indigenous languages in the mass media as vehicles of promoting local, national and regional intercommunication; 5. Ensure that the media are adequately sensitised on gender issues so as to promote gender equality and equity in information dissemination; 6. Build public faith and accountability in information institutions by enhancing local, national and regional ownership; 7. Turn organs of communication into a genuine and credible marketplace of ideas by encouraging diversity, breadth and professionalism in ownership and editorial policy; 8. Place communication at the disposal of communities, nation-states and SADC for the articulation and development of a tolerant, multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual regional culture in the global context; 9. Utilize communication to build and strengthen solidarity and understanding with other communities, especially those from the developing world; and 10. Cooperate in the protection of children from harmful information and cultural products, as well as in strengthening children’s self-expression and access to the means of communication. The Protocol also encourages the upgrading of information infrastructure for the following purposes: • To improve communication in urban and rural areas to ensure access to more stakeholders through the media. • To promote the role of archives, libraries, museums, cultural villages and similar services as information providers. • To cooperate in the development of new communication technologies, including satellite broadcasting, to counter threats to collective sovereignty from the global media. Namibia Media Law Audit – report final draft 11