edition-dw-akademie-in-the-service-of-the-public-functions-and-transformation-of-media-in-developing-countries-pdf

Media LandscapeAt first glance, this rather challenging environment for thefreedom of speech and freedom of the press does not seem toinfluence the media landscape of the country. Namibia is a nationwith a small population, but with a surprisingly manifoldand thriving media scene. One of Namibia’s major achievementswith regard to the freedom of speech and information isthe introduction of a three-tier system of broadcasting: Publicmedia, commercial media and community media are recognizedwithin the 2009 Communication Act and each sectionplays a vital role within a freely operating media environment. 8State-owned media as well as commercial and community mediaoutlets operate successfully side by side. Five daily nationalnewspapers are on offer, as well as a dozen weekly, bi-weeklyand monthly newspapers and magazines. Namibia is hometo more than 20 commercial and seven community radio stationsand hosts at present three television channels from thestate broadcaster, one commercial and one religious TV channel.In Namibia, as in other African markets, the use of mobilephones is booming. Analysts estimate that virtually the entirepopulation are mobile cellular subscribers, even though onlyfew have an activated mobile-broadband tariff which allowsthem to download videos and heavy data loads. The internetbroadband penetration rate in Namibia remains very low todate. Official data suggests that approximately 13 percent of thepopulation accessed the internet in 2012 via broadband. 9 Studiessuggest that household internet access has been hamperedby monopolistic company structures and difficulties in makingthe expensive infrastructures construction a real business case.Radio is still seen as having the widest reach of all media,whereas TV, print, and online have significantly lower marketpenetration rates. 10 In regard to access to information, NBC isand will likely remain the biggest supplier of country-wide coverageand program delivery in radio and television. Particularlyin rural Namibia in the border regions to Angola, Zambia, Botswana,and South Africa, the NBC transmission network will bethe only way for the local population to access information, asthere is no economic incentive for commercial media outletsto roll out expensive networks in a nation with a populationdensity of three people per square mile. In essence, Namibia isa prime example of a nation where the public service functionof universal access to information should be accomplished bya public service provider. Even with the existing network, oneinterviewee argued as follows: “The rural areas are neglected.” 11Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC)“Inspiring a growing nation”– this is the corporate claim of NBC,which is by far the most dominant player within the Namibianmedia landscape. The corporation was established in 1991 byact of parliament 12 and has been operating since then from twosites in the capital Windhoek. Before independence, NBC wasused as a propaganda channel for the South African occupationforces, and was known as the South West African BroadcastingCorporation (SWABC). For more than 20 years now, NBC hasbroadcast on one TV channel via analogue terrestrial signals,exclusively in the official language English. With the introductionof the digital broadcasting standard DTT in early 2014, NBCexpanded its TV transmission to three TV channels, accordingto the Director General, two channels with public servicecharacter (NBC1 and NBC2) and one with a commercial touch(NBC3). 13 NBC1 is supposed to concentrate on full-range familyprogramming, ranging in content from a morning news show(“Good Morning Namibia”) to entertainment soaps to lifestylemagazines (“Tutaleni”). NBC2 is to be the news and currentaffairs channel, rebroadcasting content from Russia Today,CCTV Africa, Al Jazeera, and Deutsche Welle, as well as carryingdebates from the National Assembly. NBC3, however, is tofocus exclusively on sports programming and movies, soaps,and shows, mostly third-party content. NBC radio already traditionallyoffers ten different language services, reflecting thelanguage diversity of the country more adequately. The Englishservice, NBC National radio, broadcasts on a 24-hour basis.The other radio services, namely Afrikaans Service, Damara/Nama Service, German Service, Otjiherero Service, Tirelo YaSetswana, ah! Radio, Lozi Service, Oshiwambo Service and RukavangoService, suspend broadcasts during the night. 14 Datafrom NBC suggests that 98 percent of Namibians receive coveragefrom NBC radio and 66 percent have access to NBC TV onthe analogue terrestrial standard. 15 This includes the servicesto rural areas which are mostly ignored by commercial broadcastersthat focus on the financially interesting urban elites inWindhoek and the few other bigger cities in Namibia. Six outof ten radio language services are currently available via internetlive stream. NBC TV, however, offers to date only selectedvideo news clips on its website.Stakeholders in the Transformation ProcessAlthough Namibia is home to a vibrant media scene, the numberof actively-engaged national change agents in a media-relevantcontext is rather limited. On the systemic level, Namibianand international actors have established close cooperationthat has the potential to shape the future structure of the medialandscape. The civil society awareness-raising campaign“ACTION Namibia” advocates the implementation of an accessto information law in Namibia. 16 Notably, the country chapterof the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) 17 and the Instituteof Public Policy Research (IPPR) 18 launched an advocacycampaign in cooperation with the UNESCO Office Windhoek.The coalition organizes public awareness-raising events to explainwhy better access to information from governmental andstate-controlled public authorities is key to fighting corruptionand allows for better control through civil society. A kick-offconference in August 2012 brought together stakeholders frommedia, lawmakers and human rights organizations. And the coalitionorganized a workshop for legal drafters (November 2013)76