Swapo gets majority of political media coverage - report

Swapo received 41% of political media coverage between 20 June and 21 July this year, with the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) ranking a distant second at 13%, according to a media monitoring report released yesterday.The Landless People's Movement (LPM) is the subject of the third most political reports in the media with 11%.The official opposition party, Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), and the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) are tied with 6% of media coverage. Affirmative Repositioning (AR), which was recently registered as a political party, was the subject of 5% of media coverage, while independent candidates received 2% of media attention. From the 41% of political media reports that put the spotlight on the ruling party, only 4% were negative, while 56% were neutral and 40% were positive, the report noted. On the contrary, the majority (64%) of the coverage on the NEFF was negative, with 36% being neutral. The analysed media reports also include reports about the NEFF's deregistration as a political party by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) and the resulting court application. Election campaigns top listState media took the lead in reporting on Swapo, as New Era accounted for 21% of the coverage about the ruling party and the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation's (NBC) news programmes provided 14%.The Namibian made 11% of the statements in the media about Swapo, while Namibian Sun was responsible for 9%. Republikein and Kosmos radio station each contributed 4% to this number. State-owned media provided 56% of the coverage related to Swapo, while the private media provided the other 44%. From the themes of statements made about Swapo in the media, service provision was only sixth on the list. Election campaigns were the most commonly discussed. Republikein made the most statements about the NEFF, with 33% of political media coverage about the party. The Namibian follows with 19%. In the case of the NEFF, the private media provided 85% of the coverage, while the state media carried only 15%. There was almost four times more media coverage on the party's deregistration than on other NEFF-related issues. State media also provided 96% of media reports on the LPM, with the private media accounting for only 4%. Media ombudsman John Nakuta noted that figures for the LPM "look like those for the ruling party".LGBTQIA coverageMedia coverage on LGBTQIA issues was also analysed, with 100% of the media reports on the sodomy law found to be neutral.The private media's absence in coverage of women's issues was noted by Natasja Beyleveld, the managing director of NaMedia. "It's like the private media doesn't see gender issues," she said. All the statements made in the media about women's role in society and women's relationship with politics were positive. Nakuta said final edits must still be done before the full report will be launched. - irene-mari@nmh-hub.com.na

Swapo gets majority of political media coverage - report

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Namibian Sun 2026-01-29

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Swapo gets majority of political media coverage - report

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Namibian Sun 2026-01-29

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