Namibia
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

2.13

(2005 = 1.8)

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.
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African Media Barometer - Namibia 2007

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