SECTOR 2 While the newspaper may have demonstrated some surprising editorial independence two years ago, it was felt that since Joel Kaapanda took over as Minister of Information and Communication Technology in early 2009, statepaid journalists have become more cautious. Some panellists still felt that a handful of reports in the New Era do appear to be written “quite independently”. Letters from members of the opposition party, Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), are published and the paper’s opinion pieces are not always “pro-SWAPO”. Other panellists said that the newspaper was, editorially, “very, very close to the SWAPO mouthpiece, Namibia Today”. “There is an impression among some leaders in Namibia that the New Era has the mandate of the government/ruling party, SWAPO, and there is a grey area between the government and SWAPO. Others feel that because taxpayers’ are funding it, it should be the voice of all Namibians, irrespective of party lines.” In another example of the Minister’s increasing interference in New Era at an editorial level, Kaapanda met with all staff in October 2008 and told them that in the run-up to the November 2009 elections he expected the newspaper to cover the government in a positive light, and he reminded the staff that government pays their salaries – as reported in New Era itself.11 Again, as elections were referred to, panellists felt that the minister was equating government with SWAPO. The new Chairperson of the New Era Board is high-ranking SWAPO ‘think tank’ member, Matthew Gowaseb. He is also the acting CEO of the Southern Times and, most recently, in May 2009 he was appointed the new Acting Director General of the NBC.12 New Era and NAMPA articles about his NBC appointment made no mention of his other roles. There is concern that NAMPA journalists and editors may be exercising selfcensorship in their work, and thus presenting government uncritically, by avoiding controversial topics and focusing on neither feature writing nor investigative journalism. Instead, the news agency appears to write mostly fillers and makes no effort to cover rural areas, either. 11 ‘New Era Board Chair Introduced’ by Chrispin Inambao, New Era, October 28, 2008 12 www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=4448 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2009 33