In 2007 the Congress of SWAPO called for government to establish a statutory council to regulate the media. This threat seems to have galvanised media groups into renewed action to form an independent, self-regulatory body to develop and uphold a common code of ethics and deal with complaints from the public. Earlier attempts to set up such a voluntary media council failed but it is now expected that it will be established in the second half of 2009. In 2001, the government, under the leadership of President Sam Nujoma, imposed a ban on The Namibian newspaper, prohibiting any government body from placing advertisements in the daily newspaper or from purchasing it with state funds. The government claimed this was because the newspaper was too critical of its policies. The ban is still in place. Government is making it hard for the public to get hold of information held by the state. There is no Access to Information Act and most government web sites, including that of the state broadcaster NBC, are outdated, not functional or do not contain relevant material. The confidentiality of sources is not protected by law and court judgements handed down over the years have sent divergent signals: in certain cases a journalist cannot be forced to reveal his/her informer, in others she/he can. In 2006, President Pohamba promised legal protection of whistleblowers. However, nothing had been done in this regard by May 2009. Despite all these obstacles, independent media flourish. With just 2.2 million citizens the country boasts four dailies with a total circulation of approximately 80,000 copies, five weeklies with a combined print run of more than 100,000, a dozen monthly magazines as well as 25 radio and three television stations. Print media, however, are expensive and thus not affordable to the majority of the population. The same goes for internet. English dominates the print and broadcasting media, with the notable exception of the NBC radio’s ten language services, New Era and the independent The Namibian, both of which regularly feature articles in other languages. Community radios could contribute to greater linguistic diversity, but up to now only six such stations are on air. Most battle to secure funding from sponsors, while some are attempting to attract more advertising. With the current global economic crisis, funding from outside Namibia is increasingly difficult to procure. The vast majority of media are based in the capital Windhoek and events or people in rural areas are far less covered than those in towns. Most newsmakers and sources of news stories are men, reflecting the imbalance of power and influence between the sexes in the country. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2009 7