Govt wants media control

The minister of information and communication technology, Tjekero Tweya, says the ministry will drive an agenda to put in place a statutory body “to ensure that the media are held responsible and do not get away with murder”.
Tweya was speaking at the closure of the fifth Gender and Media Summit held recently in Windhoek.
He said this is “in the event they [the media] abuse their power to write, report and broadcast and making themselves guilty of defamation and slander of people’s character in public”.
He repeated a statement made during his budget speech in parliament earlier this year where he noted that “this tendency must unfortunately come to an end”.
Tweya at the gender summit nonetheless said the government has pledged to create and enable accountability for the principles of public interest and truthful and ethical reporting “for us as the Namibian media not to slide down from the number one and 17th media ratings in Africa and the world respectively”.
Media pundits, however, emphasised that international rankings are based on several criteria, including the media regulation system where self-regulation is considered the preferred mode.
This is articulated in the Windhoek Declaration and the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The pundits argue that if the government continues on the path of state-regulation of the media, the country’s global ranking will definitely be affected.
The Namibian media have consistently rejected proposed government regulation for fear of undue government influence and curtailment on freedom of expression and have instead opted for self-regulation based on an agreed code of ethics through the Editors’ Forum of Namibia (EFN) that is in line with international standards.
The EFN has also appointed human rights lawyer Clement Daniels as media ombudsman and introduced a complaints procedure, and has argued that there remains legal recourse if people feel aggrieved by unfair reporting.
Arguing that a conducive media environment is a two-way street, the Namibian media have similarly clamoured for legislation to ensure the right to access to information.
The chairperson of the Namibia Media Trust (NMT), Gwen Lister, condemned attempts at state regulation, saying the threat of government controls would adversely affect Namibia’s currently high freedom ranking.
“It is important that the public makes use of the services of the media ombudsman as the process is free. Legal recourse is a costly option for aggrieved citizens,” Lister said.
Politicians, she added, seem reluctant to make use of the self-regulation mechanism for reasons best known to them.
Tweya said at the gender summit that he initially had doubts about calls for the right to access to information but that he on second thought “considered this favourably” and will return to parliament with a bill for debate and discussion.
“This is almost like a give-and-take partnership between the government and the Fourth Estate, where the government guarantees and gives media freedom and in return, the media to pledge and uphold responsible journalism and media ethics. Nothing more, nothing less,” Tweya said.
Tweya also called on the Southern African Broadcasting Association (SABA) to air more local content through the creation of platform through which Africans can tell their own stories instead of being consumers of other people’s stories.

CATHERINE SASMAN