SECTOR 2 2.6 Government promotes a diverse media landscape with economically viable and independent media outlets. “Namibia does have a diverse media landscape. I don’t know if government promotes it, but it allows it. All the newspapers here can sustain themselves economically. It is a democratic, capitalistic society.” Government may respect media freedom and diversity, but is not proactively promoting it. Community radio is a case in point. Government recognises the important role community radio has to play, but in practice, regulations do not assist community radio in a significant way, and in fact, work against them. Instead, these regulations work in favour of the commercial sector. Aside from the N$10 000 (US$1450) annual grant the MICT makes to a particular community radio station, government does not put money into the development of community radio. The community broadcasters on the panel were not even aware of the annual grant. Most financial support to community broadcasters comes from donors such as UNESCO. Government does not provide subsidies or concessions for the media. “For me ‘promote’ means being proactive. I think the government is inherently anti diverse opinions.” However, other panellists felt government’s continued subsidization of NBC radio services serving minorities – the German and !Ha services for example - showed that the state is interested in promoting media diversity. “NBC has now introduced Afrikaans and German news on TV. These were political decisions.” “There is political motivation to have access to the ‘minority’ communities,” countered another panellist. “If you look beyond NBC, there is no promotion. The ban on advertising in The Namibian shows that government is against diversity as the ban limits public access to information.” 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: 2.4 (2005: n/a; 2007: n/a; 2009: 2.4) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2011 35