SECTOR 1 phone-in at all. A phone-in programme in the evening has never been as popular as its morning counterpart. Journalists from all media houses, be they state or privately owned, are considered to be too polite when interviewing politicians, thus not asserting themselves sufficiently and failing to get any real answers on pertinent issues. This may be born out of a fear (of losing one’s job, perhaps) or out of a culture where one’s elders are respected. On the other hand, many Namibian citizens are taking advantage of platforms, such as newspapers’ letters pages and the very popular SMS pages in The Namibian daily newspaper, to express themselves freely on matters of concern. SMS messages on these pages are anonymous, so citizens may feel able to be more critical because they are not identified. Supporters of the governing South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) party, under the umbrella body of the SWAPO Elders Council, in February 2009 criticised The Namibian newspaper for publishing readers’ SMSes (text messages) and radio stations for airing chat shows that they alleged to be insulting and critical towards the party’s leaders and government. They called on the Minister of Information and Communication Technology to prevent the newspaper from publishing readers’ SMSes and for the radio stations to stop airing phone-in programmes “before the situation gets out of control”. In the past two years, there seems to have been an attempt by the national broadcaster to bring in alternative views and opinions through the NBC television ‘Talk of the Nation’ current affairs show. Public demonstrations in small towns and the well-publicised ‘Children of the Struggle’ protests indicate that Namibians do feel free to express themselves on certain issues. A group of young Namibians, children of war veterans of Namibia’s struggle for independence, have been holding protests for more than six months, since late 2008, demanding that the government give them education and jobs. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country minimally meets aspects of the indicator. 3 Country meets many aspects of indicator but progress may be too recent to judge. 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator. 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator and has been doing so over time. Average score: 2.4 (2005 = 3.3; 2007 = 3.3) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2009 13