State media need a rethink

NAMIBIA needs to move on plans to set up an access to information law, and there is also a need to reform the public media.

These were two of the key issues raised by a group of panelists who worked on the African Media Barometer 2009 report for Namibia.The report was launched by the Media Institute of Southern Africa in Windhoek last week.Zoë Titus, manager of strategy development and projects at Misa, said the lack of an access to information law was ‘a key missing link to the full realisation of media and freedom of expression rights’ in the country.Titus said the public media, especially the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, are State institutions, hence owned by the people of Namibia in their diversity.’This diversity also means diversity in political, religious, racial and economic status. The NBC should be the melting pot of all that is Namibian and it can only do so if it is placed in the hands of an independent board. Right now this is not the case and we will continue to work that this anomaly be corrected,’ she said.Misa expressed the hope that after all the dust surrounding the elections has settled, debate can still continue and intensify and suggestions made and accepted on the way forward for the NBC. That was also the view captured in this year’s report African Media Barometer.The African Media Barometer was initiated by Misa and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in 2005 as a way of measuring public perceptions of the media.The report, which carries the views of a panel of experts drawn from varying social groups, is intended to give those working on media and free expression advocacy issues a chance to measure and review their own work against the views held by citizens. It comes out every two years and in countries such as Lesotho where similar work was done, the report is being used as part of submissions to the Lesotho Peer Review Mechanism process done through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad).In some countries the report has been widely distributed to legislators and government, with interesting feedback received on what the media need to do to improve freedom of expression. This year’s report for Namibia was launched as the country prepares for elections, in which the role of the media remains key.