Media freedom in Namibia given a favourable rating

NAMIBIA ranks 25th on this year’s Press Freedom Index, recently released by the Paris-based watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Along with Benin, which shares this position, Namibia is the highest ranked African country, and comes in ahead of South Africa and the United States. South Africa is ranked 31st, and the US 44th.However, a specialist in media monitoring at the Media Institute for Southern Africa (Misa), Zoë Titus, says one should be careful in accepting these findings as gospel.”When it comes to this sort of report it’s always important to know the methodology they use,” she told The Namibian this week.”I wouldn’t, for example, motivate saying that Namibia has a better media environment than South Africa.”South Africa, she says, has an Access to Information Act, whereas journalists in Namibia often find it difficult to obtain official documents without similar legislation in place.South Africa also has a relatively independent public-service broadcaster, she said, whereas Namibians can’t claim this, as the Minister of Broadcasting and Information is directly responsible for appointing the board of the national broadcaster.The RSF report was compiled by asking partner organisations, correspondents, journalists, researchers and legal experts from 167 countries 50 questions designed to assess the country’s level of press freedom.According to Titus, it would seem that the report focused on instances where some kind of action was taken against journalists.Again using South Africa as an example, she said that country’s media are much more sternly monitored, meaning that as soon as something goes wrong on the SABC, action is taken.This, she says, might be why the country’s ranking has dropped compared to Namibia, as there’s not as stern a monitoring process in Namibia.”There’s a socio-political environment within which any violation occurs,” she added, “and this environment is made up of historical things, the role of NGOs, the basic societies, and so forth.”The US has dropped more than 20 places since last year’s report, with the RSF attributing this mainly to the imprisonment of New York Times reporter Judith Miller and legal moves undermining the privacy of journalistic sources.The top five countries are Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland and the Netherlands.The worst rated country, at number 167, is North Korea.South Africa is ranked 31st, and the US 44th.However, a specialist in media monitoring at the Media Institute for Southern Africa (Misa), Zoë Titus, says one should be careful in accepting these findings as gospel.”When it comes to this sort of report it’s always important to know the methodology they use,” she told The Namibian this week.”I wouldn’t, for example, motivate saying that Namibia has a better media environment than South Africa.”South Africa, she says, has an Access to Information Act, whereas journalists in Namibia often find it difficult to obtain official documents without similar legislation in place.South Africa also has a relatively independent public-service broadcaster, she said, whereas Namibians can’t claim this, as the Minister of Broadcasting and Information is directly responsible for appointing the board of the national broadcaster.The RSF report was compiled by asking partner organisations, correspondents, journalists, researchers and legal experts from 167 countries 50 questions designed to assess the country’s level of press freedom.According to Titus, it would seem that the report focused on instances where some kind of action was taken against journalists.Again using South Africa as an example, she said that country’s media are much more sternly monitored, meaning that as soon as something goes wrong on the SABC, action is taken.This, she says, might be why the country’s ranking has dropped compared to Namibia, as there’s not as stern a monitoring process in Namibia.”There’s a socio-political environment within which any violation occurs,” she added, “and this environment is made up of historical things, the role of NGOs, the basic societies, and so forth.” The US has dropped more than 20 places since last year’s report, with the RSF attributing this mainly to the imprisonment of New York Times reporter Judith Miller and legal moves undermining the privacy of journalistic sources. The top five countries are Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland and the Netherlands.The worst rated country, at number 167, is North Korea.