Where’s The Public Voice?

THE Namibian’s editorial of Friday May 11, and Minister Ndaitwah’s remarks on Press Freedom Day, May 3, represent the latest arguments in an ongoing debate between media owners and the Government.

What is missing from this debate are the voices of the reading, viewing and listening public. Government may claim it represents the public because they elected them, and the media owners that they represent the public because their product is bought by the public on a daily basis.But considering the dominance of political parties and their spin doctors on the one hand, and the dominance of large media monopolies on the other, one can see that both these views are naïve.I can’t remember the Ministry of Information even once asking members of the public to submit proposals on the media system they would like to see.It also has been years since The Namibian, or any other newspaper for that matter, has done a comprehensive readership survey.A few months ago, it’s true, a southern-Africa-wide readership survey was conducted by the Gender Links organisation, which included several Namibian media, but that only focused on one, albeit very important, area of concern.Neither is it enough simply to have a letters page open to the public.It will inevitably be dominated by those who have the time and skills to write letters, and normally these focus on outside events, rather than on the media itself.What needs to happen is for both Government and media owners to send people out into the suburbs and townships and onto the farms to find out, scientifically, what it is the people want to see and hear.Then there needs to be calm, reasoned and non-hate-filled discussion of the results and how they are best implemented.I mention this point because I have hesitated for long to write such a letter as this, for fear of being labelled as either a stooge of the regime or a supporter of capitalist imperialism, or quite possibly both.The media in the United States operate in a different way from those in Britain, and in a different way again in Sweden.All these countries have a free press, but they have each interpreted the concept of a ‘free press’ in their own way, based on their own needs.It is not an insult to press freedom to say we need to develop a Namibian model of the free press in line with our own needs as a country with great development challenges and a still very intolerant political culture.The exact nature of this Namibian media system can only be determined, as I have said, by consulting the public.But, in my capacities as a reader of the Namibian press and as a radio listener, I would like to suggest that a start to the process of making media better would be to think twice about the concept of ‘objectivity’.There will always be many different truths, held by different people.Government and media owners should accept this reality.They should stop calling on media to be, or claiming that they are, ‘objective’.They should instead try to ensure a diversity of voices, within a tolerant environment, so that as many truths as possible are available to readers and listeners.Hugh Ellis WindhoekGovernment may claim it represents the public because they elected them, and the media owners that they represent the public because their product is bought by the public on a daily basis.But considering the dominance of political parties and their spin doctors on the one hand, and the dominance of large media monopolies on the other, one can see that both these views are naïve.I can’t remember the Ministry of Information even once asking members of the public to submit proposals on the media system they would like to see.It also has been years since The Namibian, or any other newspaper for that matter, has done a comprehensive readership survey.A few months ago, it’s true, a southern-Africa-wide readership survey was conducted by the Gender Links organisation, which included several Namibian media, but that only focused on one, albeit very important, area of concern.Neither is it enough simply to have a letters page open to the public.It will inevitably be dominated by those who have the time and skills to write letters, and normally these focus on outside events, rather than on the media itself.What needs to happen is for both Government and media owners to send people out into the suburbs and townships and onto the farms to find out, scientifically, what it is the people want to see and hear.Then there needs to be calm, reasoned and non-hate-filled discussion of the results and how they are best implemented.I mention this point because I have hesitated for long to write such a letter as this, for fear of being labelled as either a stooge of the regime or a supporter of capitalist imperialism, or quite possibly both.The media in the United States operate in a different way from those in Britain, and in a different way again in Sweden.All these countries have a free press, but they have each interpreted the concept of a ‘free press’ in their own way, based on their own needs.It is not an insult to press freedom to say we need to develop a Namibian model of the free press in line with our own needs as a country with great development challenges and a still very intolerant political culture.The exact nature of this Namibian media system can only be determined, as I have said, by consulting the public.But, in my capacities as a reader of the Namibian press and as a radio listener, I would like to suggest that a start to the process of making media better would be to think twice about the concept of ‘objectivity’.There will always be many different truths, held by different people.Government and media owners should accept this reality.They should stop calling on media to be, or claiming that they are, ‘objective’.They should instead try to ensure a diversity of voices, within a tolerant environment, so that as many truths as possible are available to readers and listeners.Hugh Ellis Windhoek