SECTOR 3 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: 2.0 (2005: 2.0; 2007: 1.8; 2009: 1.8; 2011: 2.8) 3.4 The state/public broadcaster is accountable to the public through an independent board which is representative of society at large and selected in an independent, open and transparent manner. The Board of the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) consists of between 6 and 11 persons, all appointed directly by the Minister of Information and Communication Technology at his or her own discretion in line with the Namibian Broadcasting Act of 1991 (Sections 5 and 6). While the Board appoints the Director General, it has to seek approval from government (Cabinet). Hence the process of designating Board Members is vulnerable to manipulation. Furthermore, according to the NBC’s own website, the broadcaster states that it is accountable firstly to their line ministry and secondly only to Parliament- hence by extension to the public. Panellists noted, however, that since public complaints were also among the reasons that several Director Generals have been removed from the broadcaster in the past few years, “just because the Minister appoints the Board, this does not necessarily discredit the independence of the Board”. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2015 47