SECTOR 2

Some panellists felt that most private print media are owned by white Namibians
and, as a result, are “not really addressing issues that the majority of the population
is concerned with”. For example, The Namibian recently had a front-page article
on the SADC Tribunal while an article on malnutrition appeared on page 5. A
panellist opined that: “Many of our media owners did not experience the brutalities
of the apartheid regime, or the brutalities of the current regime, and that affects
how they report”.
Radio

Medium

Radio
Stations

State

NBC !Ha
NBC Afrikaans
NBC German
NBC Damara/Nama
NBC National
Service
NBC Oshiwambo
NBC Otjiherero
NBC Rukavango
NBC Tirelo ya
Setswana
NBC Lozi

Commercial

Radio 99
Radio Cosmos
Radio Energy
Fresh FM
Radio Kudu
Omulunga Radio
West Coast FM

Community

Base FM
Channel 7
E-FM
(formerly Radio
Ecclesia)
Karas
Community
Radio
Live FM
Radio France
International
(RFI)
UNAM Radio

Radio is more affordable, but not all the NBC’s various language services transmit
to all parts of the country. “Some people – in particular minority language speakers
in a particular area – are unable to listen to radio because the money is not there
to put all ten (NBC) language services on the transmitter in every place.” The
NBC’s television transmitters cover less than 70 percent of the country, while the
prohibitive cost of a license fee also limits its accessibility, along with the cost of a
television set and the lack of electricity in many rural areas.
The television license fee is N$204 per TV set per annum for a household/private
person, and N$60 per TV set per annum for a pensioner/war veteran/disabled
person. Businesses pay N$220 per annum and furniture retailers/dealers/TV
repair companies and companies hiring out TV sets pay N$440 per annum per
demonstration set.

AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2011

29

Select target paragraph3