SECTOR 1 There is no Access to Information law in Namibia. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.8 (2005: 3.4; 2007: 3.3; 2009: 3.1; 2011: 2.9) 1.2 The right to freedom of expression is practised and citizens, including journalists, are asserting their rights without fear. With the emergence of the internet and increased popularity of social media, especially amongst young, urban Namibians, these new spaces for self-expression are increasingly being used. On social media “people are relentless in expressing themselves” was the observation of one of the members of the panel. With an overall internet use of just about 16 %2, this positive trend cannot be interpreted as a clear indication of more freedom of expression in general. However, mainstream media have started to pick up on some of the discussions started on social media, hence making them accessible to the general public. Increased convergence of different media formats – such as mainstream media using social media platforms, SMS pages featuring in the newspaper, or integrating twitter and facebook in radio and 2 “Are people really free to express themselves or are they only free when they go anonymous?” Based on household survey results of Research ICTAfrica data of 2012 internet use. This number might have increased but must be considered against the backdrop that according to latest world bank data more than 40% of Namibians live on less than 2US$. This means according to the latest affordability report that for those segments of society it costs them with 17% of their income for mobile broadband prepaid handset-based on 500MB, 25% for broadband postpaid computer-based internet based on 1 GB and 113% for fixed broadband http://a4ai.org/affordability-report/ report/ . AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2015 13