Political Perspective

I FAIL to understand Government. With all the threats about reining in the press and setting up media councils, Government acts to all intents and purposes as if they have no interest in this sector.

Of course they do (although in my view they shouldn’t!). Yet with limited resources they continue not only to keep their own media alive with constant budgetary infusions, but to add to those already in existence.What, I’d like to know, is the total REAL cost to Government to keep its own media afloat (that includes New Era, the NBC and Nampa as well as the joint Namibia-Zimbabwe Southern Times, to name but a few) and then still want to control and influence the so-called private media.And what is the purpose behind this meddling? This week a ‘Government Information Bulletin’ of 20 pages on high-gloss (expensive) paper was inserted in the New Era.Worse, the expensive little production is not only a waste of resources but also horribly out of date.It appears every two months, allegedly, at a cost of N$200 000 per edition! The edition for December 2007/January 2008, appearing in March (!), contains an editorial from the Minister talking about Christmas! I see absolutely no reason why the information contained therein could not be accommodated in New Era (and most probably was, in any case), thus saving the taxpayer over a million a year.A glance at the Ministry’s Annual Report for the 12-month period up to March 2007 shows a (minimal) expenditure on their combined media of not less than N120 million! At the end of the day, with all these Government media in existence, the question needs to be asked as to what the purpose is behind it? The private media adequately and amply cover Government in all its manifestations, and the only justification I can find for Government to be in media at all would be to ensure that the NBC become a full-fledged PUBLIC broadcaster and to amend the Act governing it accordingly.In a preface to the pricey little English-language bulletin which is “distributed free of charge to rural communities through the Ministry’s different regional offices”, it is stated that the Bulletin was established “to publicise the Government’s programmes policies and activities”, and it asks for suggestions, and mine is that they can this little exercise, which is largely pointless, and futile no doubt, since it ostensibly targets rural communities in the English language! Government, in short, and with the figures cited above, is undoubtedly still the biggest player on the media scene in Namibia.So what’s all this about controlling the press which remains outside its orbit? With such a huge budgetary allocation, and a Ministry to add to the cost, Government isn’t doing much for the community through its media involvement at all.It is, in fact, the private media that inform and educate the people of this country to a much greater extent and at no cost to our taxpayers.Yet with limited resources they continue not only to keep their own media alive with constant budgetary infusions, but to add to those already in existence.What, I’d like to know, is the total REAL cost to Government to keep its own media afloat (that includes New Era, the NBC and Nampa as well as the joint Namibia-Zimbabwe Southern Times, to name but a few) and then still want to control and influence the so-called private media.And what is the purpose behind this meddling? This week a ‘Government Information Bulletin’ of 20 pages on high-gloss (expensive) paper was inserted in the New Era.Worse, the expensive little production is not only a waste of resources but also horribly out of date.It appears every two months, allegedly, at a cost of N$200 000 per edition! The edition for December 2007/January 2008, appearing in March (!), contains an editorial from the Minister talking about Christmas! I see absolutely no reason why the information contained therein could not be accommodated in New Era (and most probably was, in any case), thus saving the taxpayer over a million a year.A glance at the Ministry’s Annual Report for the 12-month period up to March 2007 shows a (minimal) expenditure on their combined media of not less than N120 million! At the end of the day, with all these Government media in existence, the question needs to be asked as to what the purpose is behind it? The private media adequately and amply cover Government in all its manifestations, and the only justification I can find for Government to be in media at all would be to ensure that the NBC become a full-fledged PUBLIC broadcaster and to amend the Act governing it accordingly.In a preface to the pricey little English-language bulletin which is “distributed free of charge to rural communities through the Ministry’s different regional offices”, it is stated that the Bulletin was established “to publicise the Government’s programmes policies and activities”, and it asks for suggestions, and mine is that they can this little exercise, which is largely pointless, and futile no doubt, since it ostensibly targets rural communities in the English language! Government, in short, and with the figures cited above, is undoubtedly still the biggest player on the media scene in Namibia.So what’s all this about controlling the press which remains outside its orbit? With such a huge budgetary allocation, and a Ministry to add to the cost, Government isn’t doing much for the community through its media involvement at all.It is, in fact, the private media that inform and educate the people of this country to a much greater extent and at no cost to our taxpayers.