Namibia 3.7 The editorial independence of the public broadcaster from commercial pressure and political influence is guaranteed by law and practiced. ANALYSIS: The NBC Act does not make any reference to an editorial policy. While the NCC Act refers to good journalistic practice and provides a list of professional standards and requirements, this does not apply to the NBC as it is a separate statutory body. It is worth noting that the draft Communications Bill aims to bring the NBC under the overall broadcasting regulatory framework. A chilling example of political interference happened in 2005, when, shortly after her appointment, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting told NBC staff that they must promote the SWAPO manifesto in all their programmes. While this was a Cabinet directive issued to all ministries, it is a point of grave concern that NBC journalists were instructed to favour one party’s manifesto over others when the NBC should be a neutral, public and independent broadcaster. While there is no general editorial policy at the NBC, the state broadcaster does have a strict election-coverage policy in terms of giving equal airtime to each party. There are loopholes, however. For example, in the run-up to the last elections, former president Nujoma was known to hijack legitimate news events to promote SWAPO by wearing the party’s colours. Many of the news journalists at the NBC are young, new to the job and very inexperienced. “To throw them in at the deep end with no support from senior journalists or management, and no internal editorial policy, results in poor editorial decisions being taken.“ Editorial interference appears to be happening in a more subtle African Media Barometer - Namibia 2007 33