Laws fail to protect journalists, report warns

Media experts, legal practitioners and advocates have raised alarm over a widening gap between Namibia's celebrated media freedom rankings and the realities on the ground.

The concerns emerged during the launch and discussion of the 2026 African Media Barometer (AMB) report last Thursday.

The report found that while Namibia continues to enjoy strong constitutional protections, an independent judiciary and a vibrant media environment, significant gaps remain between legal guarantees and practical realities.

The report was presented by Namibia Media Trust (NMT) executive director Zoe Titus.

Titus explained that the AMB assesses national media environments using standards derived from the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights' Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression.

She said Namibia scored 2.7 out of five in key categories relating to freedom of expression, access to information, media diversity and the digital environment.

"What we find is that Namibia has strong constitutional protections but weak implementation," Titus said. "Good laws, but the laws are not working for citizens and the media alike."

ICT specialist Vivette Rittmann said: "It almost feels as if that positioning now is a little bit false, because the policies and the laws and everything are great and shiny and give us that positioning.”

Rittmann said one of the report's most troubling findings was that citizens appeared to enjoy greater freedom of expression than journalists and media professionals.

"That disconnect for me speaks to an alarming falseness of our media freedom positioning almost."

She urged stakeholders to take the findings seriously, describing them as a "signal flare" for the country's democratic institutions.

Critical shortages

Titus identified the failure to operationalise the Access to Information (ATI) Act as one of the report's most significant concerns. "We have yet to appoint an information commissioner," she said. "That law is not working."

The report found that shrinking advertising markets, declining newsroom resources and economic pressures increasingly affect editorial independence.

"Economic pressures impact journalists in terms of the stories they decide to do, it impacts on editorial independence and ultimately impacts the diversity of stories and information that the public eventually receives," Titus said.

Former media ombudsman and University of Namibia human rights law lecturer John Nakuta focused on the delayed implementation of the ATI Act and broader issues of political accountability. "It would take our country in terms of accountability and transparency to another level if the Access to Information Act were operationalised," he said. "But it appears as if the country is held hostage by the political elite."

Nakuta argued that transparency and access to information should not be viewed as privileges. "You're not doing us a favour by enacting the Access to Information Act that would hold leadership, those in positions of power, accountable," he said. "It is not as if we are asking for some welfare or benevolence."

He further criticised the continued existence of criminal defamation, noting that both the United Nations and African human rights bodies have long called for its repeal.