SECTOR 4

move up. At the same time, a panellist noted, “we [women] are allegedly being
wheelbarrowed into positions”, even if often the producers and “the ones that
do the dirty work are women”. Hence there are a lot of men in management
positions. Women deal with the sterotype of rather having been promoted based
on the fact that they are female rather than merit even if very often they are the
once who are doing conceptual and management work such as producing.
Structures in the newsroom generally reflect the structure of society. Needless
to say therefore, as in the words of a member of the panel, “you don’t find
minorities represented at high levels or positions of importance”.
At a broader level, it has to be questioned whether the current training and lack
of ‘upskilling programmes’ – be it at institutions or within the media sector – will
be able to redress these imbalances and meet the requirements of the industry.
For instance, one panellist asked, “How can we ensure that at least in 10 years we
can have 1 San writer? There is not one (in Namibian newsrooms).”

Scores:
Individual scores:

64

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: n/a; 2007: n/a;
2009: n/a; 2011: 2.4)

Average score for sector 4:

2.7

AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2015

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