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

training.” 34 In essence this means that the corporation has inthe past asked external media training organizations to offerin-house training ad hoc when a particular gap of skills andcompetences was discovered.Moreover, recruiting processes and the internal promotionof staff within NBC are not based on a fair and transparentperformance and skills assessment, but rather on arbitraryappointments without justification and without further notice.In effect, this random and non-transparent approach tohuman resources management has also left its mark on thelatest reform efforts of the corporation when implementingits multimedia strategy. The ongoing process of departmentrestructuring has been hampered by false staff placementsfor key positions. In the build-up of the so-called “multimediacontent hub,” a kind of central news desk within the corporation,staff recruitment was done by directive. As one intervieweesaid: “All these people that are under the division were notrecruited, but those are people that have been shifted from anotherdepartment, and that is the big challenge.” 35 The currentapproach to human resources management at NBC has led to adeterioration of corporate spirit. As one NBC employee noted:“There is no trust in this corporation, nobody trusts anybody,people even withhold information from each other.” The factthat there is no NBC intranet sharing information within thecorporation is in this respect telling.In 2013, NBC’s training department laid the foundationsfor a complete overhaul of the recruitment and training process.A policy for a “performance assessment system” has beendrafted and forwarded to the NBC Board. With such focus ona career development policy, the roughly 450 employees withfixed contracts and approximately 100 freelancers should getnew career opportunities within the corporation, says thehead of training. 36 Career opportunities for employees basedon merit rather than on fortune, that seems to be one of themost pressing needs for NBC, as the rather shocking remark ofone NBC reporter highlights: “I am here at NBC for five yearsand I think this is bad for my CV”.Financing, Management and Newsroom StructuresThe financial situation of the NBC has improved from nearbankruptcy in the fiscal year 2007–2008 to a more balancedmanagement of the state broadcaster’s accounts in recentyears. 37 In principle, the state broadcaster is funded mainly byan annual state subsidy, whilst partly using other sources ofincome such as the sale of airtime and programmes, the issuingof yearly television licenses and the rental of transmitters.For the financial year 2012–2013, the Namibian finance ministerhad to provide funding of N$ 154.3 million for NBC, with thecorporation’s own revenue reaching N$ 67.9 million. This leftNBC’s overall deficit at N$ 2.3 million in that year compared toa deficit of N$ 48.5 million in 2011/12. The NBC managementis indeed hoping to break even within the foreseeable future.A small victory, local analysts have argued, as the corporationremains highly indebted with little room for manoeuvre toinvest in future projects. 38 As local media have reported, thestate subsidy for NBC is expected to remain high at a level ofjust over N$ 1 billion for the upcoming three years. 39 Governmentfunding rises therefore to a very substantial share of55 percent, whereas income generated from advertising andsponsorships accounted lately for 21 percent. 40 Or as one intervieweenoted, in view of the strictly state-controlled governancemode at NBC: “The majority of funds comes directlyfrom government, so that destroys the whole model of publicservice broadcasting.” 41Alongside the corporate mission illustrated in the “StrategicTriangle 2011,” the corporation aims to regain financial sustainability.By 2015, the objective is to “triple its own revenue”through a coherent commercialization strategy. 42 Accordingto the Director General, this can be achieved through an effortto collect licence fee revenues more vigorously, to rentout NBC transmission infrastructure at higher prices and toincrease advertising revenue via the roll-out of digital broadcastingservices DTT. “’Our complete orientation from simplybeing preoccupied with public broadcasting will have to bringin stronger elements of the commercial focus. Because it isout of that we have to match every dollar the public investsin us, we should be able to match. The commercial model ofNBC will therefore change radically.” 43 A key tactic, the directorgeneral argues, is to allow for better positioning of the Namibianbusiness community within NBC programming. 44 Whilstthe newly-established NBC1 (family channel) and NBC2 (newsand current affairs) shall remain dedicated to the public servicemandate, NBC3 is setting out to become the commercialNBC channel that aims for sponsored edutainment and sports.“Whilst we know that our core mandate is public service, withinthat you have to think is it possible that 10 percent of whatwe put out can be content that other people that have a commercialinterest might want to buy or sponsor.” 45Despite the fact that the ‘commercial mindset’ has gainedground in the NBC’s corporate strategy, this has not yet translatedto staff salaries, as on-site research revealed. To date, therules and regulations for staff payment remain opaque andnon-transparent. And for staff that are highly engaged anddeliver high-quality output compared to others, the systemprovides no incentives, be they financial or otherwise. Accordingto one interviewee, the only real advantage of working ina state-owned media company rather than a commercial oneremains to date the benefits with respect to social welfare. 46The technological capacity of NBC is at present undergoing itsbiggest ever overhaul since the set-up of its initial transmissionnetwork in the 1990s and earlier. According to companyfigures, NBC maintains 56 transmission sites, hosting over260 analogue terrestrial transmitters for radio and television.In comparison, NBC’s only commercial rival on the nationaltelevision market OneAfrica TV has rented out 28 analogueterrestrial transmitters either at NBC’s transmission sites orhosted on towers owned by telecommunication companies. 47However, the NBC transmission network in particular has80