• • • Community radio is particularly important given its accessibility to less powerful communities, and thus its potential to address the communication gap often experienced by marginalized people. One regulatory mechanism for ensuring the equitable development of private and community broadcasting is through equitable allocation of frequencies to both types of broadcaster. Public service broadcasters should have a clearly defined mandate. The main findings in the analysis are that: • • • • • Existing and pending legislation does not make a clear distinction between the three types of broadcasting, particularly when it comes to broadcasting regulation. Legislation tends to promote the commercial interests of private broadcasters to the detriment of community broadcasters. The NBC, as provided for in the 1991 Namibian Broadcasting Act, does not match the criteria for a public service broadcaster outlined in the AC Declaration. The NBC’s public service mandate is not clearly defined. Broadcasting is treated as a poor relation to telecommunications in the Draft Communications Bill. Existing and pending legislation makes no provision for the equitable allocation of frequencies between private and community broadcasters. Media ethics (see Table 7, Appendix 3) The main principles of the Protocol and Declarations with regard to this theme are as follows: • • • • Independent regulatory bodies for hearing public complaints about print and broadcast media coverage should be established in accordance with codes of ethics/conduct agreed to by all stakeholders. These bodies should be protected against undue interference, and should not usurp the role of the courts. States should encourage the establishment and strengthening of codes of conduct/ethics by creating an enabling environment for their formulation. Self-regulation by the media is the best way of promoting high standards in the media. The main findings in the analysis are that: • • • • Provision is already made in the 1971 Newspaper and Imprint Registration Act (as amended by the Registration of Newspapers Act of 1982) for an independent disciplinary body for the print media. This, coupled with the existence of a code of ethics developed by MISA Namibia in tandem with the establishment of a media Ombudsman, suggests that the provisions of the SADC Protocol and AC Declaration are already in place with regards the selfregulation of print media. However, not all media houses have subscribed to these self-regulatory mechanisms, even though existing legislation appears to oblige print media to be part of them. Both the 1991 NCC Act and pending Draft Communications Bill seek to promote professional and ethical standards among broadcasters in terms of the duties of licence holders. Regulations issued in terms of the NCC Act have laid down more specific requirements with regards the separation of news and comment, political broadcasts, advertising and the sponsorship of programmes. But no specific code of conduct/ethics has been developed, nor is there a specific mechanism for ensuring that broadcasters adhere to professional and ethical standards. The existing and envisaged broadcasting regulatory bodies would not conform to the AC Declaration with regard to the regulation of broadcasting standards because of their lack of independence. Namibia Media Law Audit – report final draft 26