Providing People With A Voice

THE Namibian’s recent introduction of a page for text messages (more commonly known as the SMS), seems, for some or other inexplicable reason, to have aroused the ire of certain groups and people who apparently see it as a vehicle for some sinister purpose, quite other than was intended.

It has gone so far that members of the National Council and branches and groups of Swapo see this page as an attempt to substitute the country’s Parliaments, and of course no such aim is intended. We are living in a time when newspapers need to try to make themselves more accessible to the public they serve.It is in this spirit that we commenced our SMS service, which we never expected to engender the huge response from the public that it has.We entered into an agreement with a mobile telecommunications network with the explicit purpose of also making these text messages as affordable for the people as we could and therefore arrived at the N$1 cost, which goes to the provider in question.The Namibian makes no profit whatsoever.Those who allege otherwise are welcome to check the facts for themselves.We introduced the service, billing various news stories in the newspaper on which people were encouraged to submit their views.These were largely stories we believed would generate public interest, such as the state of the our hospitals, among others.From the outset the response was excellent, but people took this opportunity (for cellphone communication is widespread, quick and accessible in Namibia, unlike for example the Internet, where usage is less prolific) to air their views on any number of subjects, not necessarily those recommended by the newspaper.Out of this response, a page has grown, and those reading it would see for themselves that people write on a wide variety of subjects each day.Public interest has been widespread and we have been commended for introducing this idea.It must also be mentioned that a great deal of work is involved in this for key staff.All the text messages need to be filtered, and as with our letters page, content scrutinised for libel, incitement of ethnic or other tensions and abusive language.But we believe it is worth the effort.For it is, in its own way, a public service.We have been called the people’s newspaper, because our raison d’être when we founded the newspaper in 1985 was to provide a platform for our countrymen and women from whatever quarter.We believed in, and fought for, their right to free speech then, in a draconian apartheid era, as we do today.Swapo can no more legitimately silence people’s voices than the South African colonial regime did, and the more so because we now live in a democratic era, with a fine Constitution and Bill of Fundamental Rights.We also remind critics of this page that the staff of this newspaper have always held journalistic ethical principles in high regard, and would never knowingly allow abuse of this page by our own staff members, as has been alleged.What is also encouraging is that the text messages are coming from far and wide, even from the most rural areas of our country, and more encouraging still, is the fact that certain officials and institutions take these comments seriously enough to respond when necessary.We believe that people’s views aired on this page will bring matters of public concern to Government attention, and like the national chat shows, provide a forum and a voice for the people.With this said, we again emphasise that we would never allow calls for incitement to violence and other scurrilous views, but we must accept that robust criticism cannot be seen in such a light.We therefore note with great concern the calls to ‘censor’ these pages, and the demand in certain quarters for Government to legislate against the media for this public service.The Namibian is a newspaper that has stood the test of time.It has served, and continues to serve, the people of Namibia, and not individual, group or sectarian, political, business or other interests.We try to do this to the best of our ability and will continue to endeavour for the highest standards of quality in our service to our public.Against this background, we ask those individuals and groups intent on seeking punitive action against us to desist.There is no good reason for such calls, and contemplated actions of any kind will only disadvantage both our democracy and the rights of our people.We are living in a time when newspapers need to try to make themselves more accessible to the public they serve.It is in this spirit that we commenced our SMS service, which we never expected to engender the huge response from the public that it has.We entered into an agreement with a mobile telecommunications network with the explicit purpose of also making these text messages as affordable for the people as we could and therefore arrived at the N$1 cost, which goes to the provider in question.The Namibian makes no profit whatsoever.Those who allege otherwise are welcome to check the facts for themselves.We introduced the service, billing various news stories in the newspaper on which people were encouraged to submit their views.These were largely stories we believed would generate public interest, such as the state of the our hospitals, among others.From the outset the response was excellent, but people took this opportunity (for cellphone communication is widespread, quick and accessible in Namibia, unlike for example the Internet, where usage is less prolific) to air their views on any number of subjects, not necessarily those recommended by the newspaper.Out of this response, a page has grown, and those reading it would see for themselves that people write on a wide variety of subjects each day.Public interest has been widespread and we have been commended for introducing this idea.It must also be mentioned that a great deal of work is involved in this for key staff.All the text messages need to be filtered, and as with our letters page, content scrutinised for libel, incitement of ethnic or other tensions and abusive language.But we believe it is worth the effort.For it is, in its own way, a public service.We have been called the people’s newspaper, because our raison d’être when we founded the newspaper in 1985 was to provide a platform for our countrymen and women from whatever quarter.We believed in, and fought for, their right to free speech then, in a draconian apartheid era, as we do today.Swapo can no more legitimately silence people’s voices than the South African colonial regime did, and the more so because we now live in a democratic era, with a fine Constitution and Bill of Fundamental Rights.We also remind critics of this page that the staff of this newspaper have always held journalistic ethical principles in high regard, and would never knowingly allow abuse of this page by our own staff members, as has been alleged.What is also encouraging is that the text messages are coming from far and wide, even from the most rural areas of our country, and more encouraging still, is the fact that certain officials and institutions take these comments seriously enough to respond when necessary.We believe that people’s views aired on this page will bring matters of public concern to Government attention, and like the national chat shows, provide a forum and a voice for the people.With this said, we again emphasise that we would never allow calls for incitement to violence and other scurrilous views, but we must accept that robust criticism cannot be seen in such a light.We therefore note with great concern the calls to ‘censor’ these pages, and the demand in certain quarters for Government to legislate against the media for this public service.The Namibian is a newspaper that has stood the test of time.It has served, and continues to serve, the people of Namibia, and not individual, group or sectarian, political, business or other interests.We try to do this to the best of our ability and will continue to endeavour for the highest standards of quality in our service to our public.Against this background, we ask those individuals and groups intent on seeking punitive action against us to desist.There is no good reason for such calls, and contemplated actions of any kind will only disadvantage both our democracy and the rights of our people.