State media in crossfire

AS has become customary during debate on the annual budget allocation for the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, national broadcaster NBC again came under fire this year.

After 90 minutes of criticism from MPs, and with another 15 still listed to deliver their comments, in the National Assembly on Friday, the chair of the Whole House Committee, Doreen Sioka, decided to put a stop to the comments during the committee stage of the vote. This was to allow Minister Nangolo Mbumba to respond.The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been allocated N$152,4 million for the 2004-05 financial year, 72 per cent of which is destined for the three State-run media institutions:the NBC, New Era and Nampa.Parliamentarians who contributed to the debate all praised the NBC for improving its services over the past year.Nonetheless, everyone felt there was room for more improvement.Deputy Prime Minister Hendrik Witbooi took issue with the accuracy of translations into Nama-Damara.Witbooi, citing HIV-AIDS as an example, said there had to be more consultation on the use of certain words.He claimed the NBC language services were using words that were unfamiliar and unacceptable in his mother tongue.WHO’S IMPORTANT?Deputy Minister of Environment Petrus Ilonga was clearly irate when delivering his complaints.A regular caller to the NBC’s Open Line programme, Ilonga cited various “important” occasions when he was involved in official proceedings but received no air time.He claimed the NBC deliberately chose not to cover him and accused NBC managers of being in cahoots with certain politicians to only give them coverage.”The problem I’m having [is that] there are people they regard as more important than others,” said Ilonga.He claimed the NBC was “confusing our people, confusing our youngsters” in their choice of coverage.Ilonga said he had “worked very hard” during the liberation struggle and deserved broadcast time.Swapo backbencher Ponhele ya France and Congress of Democrats (CoD) MP Rosa Namises questioned the viability of the recently introduced 24-hour broadcasts on NBC-TV.They asked the Minister to establish whether it was financially feasible.Ya France also complained about alleged unbalanced coverage of parliamentary proceedings.He said visual material should indicate whether all MPs were present at any particular session and not only show their bench when they were absent.Ya France further claimed that the indigenous language broadcasts were being used to incite tribalism.He claimed tribalistic comments were some times inserted into translations, and alleged that an Otjiherero broadcast had included the phrase “this Owambo government”.BIAS CLAIMEDNamises, on the other hand, called for greater variety of music.She said she was “tired of Ndilimani”.The CoD MP also felt it was time to change the NBC logo to include more neutral colours, saying the present logo contained Swapo colours.Retorted Higher Education Minister Hadino Hishongwa: “Some times we should not politicise everything… just because Ndilimani was part of the struggle, and part of the culture of this country… you cannot do away with it.”Namises also took aim at the State newspaper, New Era, saying it was not only the NBC that was selective in its coverage.She said further that the paper was not reader-friendly because of its poor layout and “long, boring” text.Fellow CoD member Linus Chata questioned the NBC’s allocation of air time to the various political parties in the run-up to elections.”Since elections are there for the purpose of seeking a new mandate, it should be assumed that all contestants are new,” he said, adding it was unfair that air time was divided according to the present percentage of majority versus minority parties.Chata too had scathing remarks for New Era.”New Era is terrible.They choose who they cover.They do not respect equal and fair coverage of events,” he said.Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Bernhardt Esau, entered the discussion saying that, by choosing who it regarded as newsmakers, the media “could make or break you”.He said the national broadcaster should pay more attention to compiling educational programmes, especially about business-related matters that could help small and medium entrepreneurs.In his reply, Mbumba tackled complaints about the quality of announcers and presenters at the NBC first, saying that his name, too, was often mispronounced.He assured the House that he would appeal to the NBC to be stricter about their selection and training.”All the good ones [staff] have left,”he said, saying the broadcaster was now left with very eager, but not necessarily the best, people for the job.However, Mbumba said, there was not much he could do in prescribing the choice of stories or newsmakers the NBC covered.”The media are often referred to as the fifth estate.They have power and they can select.They can select their people and they can select their stories.Even if you are in charge of the Information Ministry, some times you are overlooked,” he said.But Mbumba did agree that it was important that the NBC should give fair coverage to all leaders.”Favourite leaders should have no place in any institution supported by public funds,” he said.”It is important that coverage is even and unbiased.”Mbumba also promised to encourage fair coverage of all potential newsmakers at New Era.This was to allow Minister Nangolo Mbumba to respond.The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been allocated N$152,4 million for the 2004-05 financial year, 72 per cent of which is destined for the three State-run media institutions:the NBC, New Era and Nampa.Parliamentarians who contributed to the debate all praised the NBC for improving its services over the past year.Nonetheless, everyone felt there was room for more improvement.Deputy Prime Minister Hendrik Witbooi took issue with the accuracy of translations into Nama-Damara.Witbooi, citing HIV-AIDS as an example, said there had to be more consultation on the use of certain words.He claimed the NBC language services were using words that were unfamiliar and unacceptable in his mother tongue.WHO’S IMPORTANT?Deputy Minister of Environment Petrus Ilonga was clearly irate when delivering his complaints.A regular caller to the NBC’s Open Line programme, Ilonga cited various “important” occasions when he was involved in official proceedings but received no air time.He claimed the NBC deliberately chose not to cover him and accused NBC managers of being in cahoots with certain politicians to only give them coverage.”The problem I’m having [is that] there are people they regard as more important than others,” said Ilonga.He claimed the NBC was “confusing our people, confusing our youngsters” in their choice of coverage.Ilonga said he had “worked very hard” during the liberation struggle and deserved broadcast time.Swapo backbencher Ponhele ya France and Congress of Democrats (CoD) MP Rosa Namises questioned the viability of the recently introduced 24-hour broadcasts on NBC-TV.They asked the Minister to establish whether it was financially feasible.Ya France also complained about alleged unbalanced coverage of parliamentary proceedings.He said visual material should indicate whether all MPs were present at any particular session and not only show their bench when they were absent.Ya France further claimed that the indigenous language broadcasts were being used to incite tribalism.He claimed tribalistic comments were some times inserted into translations, and alleged that an Otjiherero broadcast had included the phrase “this Owambo government”.BIAS CLAIMEDNamises, on the other hand, called for greater variety of music.She said she was “tired of Ndilimani”.The CoD MP also felt it was time to change the NBC logo to include more neutral colours, saying the present logo contained Swapo colours.Retorted Higher Education Minister Hadino Hishongwa: “Some times we should not politicise everything… just because Ndilimani was part of the struggle, and part of the culture of this country… you cannot do away with it.”Namises also took aim at the State newspaper, New Era,
saying it was not only the NBC that was selective in its coverage.She said further that the paper was not reader-friendly because of its poor layout and “long, boring” text.Fellow CoD member Linus Chata questioned the NBC’s allocation of air time to the various political parties in the run-up to elections.”Since elections are there for the purpose of seeking a new mandate, it should be assumed that all contestants are new,” he said, adding it was unfair that air time was divided according to the present percentage of majority versus minority parties.Chata too had scathing remarks for New Era.”New Era is terrible.They choose who they cover.They do not respect equal and fair coverage of events,” he said.Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Bernhardt Esau, entered the discussion saying that, by choosing who it regarded as newsmakers, the media “could make or break you”.He said the national broadcaster should pay more attention to compiling educational programmes, especially about business-related matters that could help small and medium entrepreneurs.In his reply, Mbumba tackled complaints about the quality of announcers and presenters at the NBC first, saying that his name, too, was often mispronounced.He assured the House that he would appeal to the NBC to be stricter about their selection and training.”All the good ones [staff] have left,”he said, saying the broadcaster was now left with very eager, but not necessarily the best, people for the job.However, Mbumba said, there was not much he could do in prescribing the choice of stories or newsmakers the NBC covered.”The media are often referred to as the fifth estate.They have power and they can select.They can select their people and they can select their stories.Even if you are in charge of the Information Ministry, some times you are overlooked,” he said.But Mbumba did agree that it was important that the NBC should give fair coverage to all leaders.”Favourite leaders should have no place in any institution supported by public funds,” he said.”It is important that coverage is even and unbiased.”Mbumba also promised to encourage fair coverage of all potential newsmakers at New Era.