The NBC and the Olympic Games

IT SEEMS to be high time to reflect on the NBC’s [Namibian Broadcasting Corporation] value in comparison with its costs.

Let us ask how much did independent Namibia already fork out to keep the national broadcaster alive over the 22 years of its existence. It is hundreds of millions of dollars. The state paid – and the state is us, its people, the country’s population. And what did we get for that money besides party-propaganda? At the moment we get nothing! Those at the helm of NBC are not media-professionals.
They do not have the slightest clue about TV quality; they do not have the slightest clue about what this nation would like to see on the screen. That a sport is dear to the heart of the Namibians, to the nation, is unimaginable to them.
They do not ask us, they do not listen to our wishes. We see almost nothing from the London Olympic Games. And the little we see by chance, is corrupted by those who have no idea of how to run such a precious resource.
On 29 July 2012 we were watching women’s soccer at the Olympics, Great Britain vs Cameroon. At 11.30, the game was cut off, sommer so! Cut off to broadcast a horse riding competition within Namibia. Cutting programmes in the middle of a broadcast is an everyday occurrence. Is that quality?
The different international and continental soccer championships and the Olympics are regular events. They do not come as a surprise. One can plan for this.
Really, something stinks in the NBC under its current leadership. The people working for that institution struggle regularly to get a raise to counter inflation and the viewer struggles to get quality on his screen.
We expect that this most expensive broadcaster does listen to us. We expect quality TV and radio broadcasts.

Katie-Josefina Beukes
Khomasdal

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