Attacks On Media Persist

ONCE again we feel it incumbent upon us to take issue with the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who regularly lambastes the media on International Press Freedom Day on May 3 each year.

Unfortunately, the Minister tends always to emphasise the negative rather than the positive about the media in our country and fails to give credit for the good work that emanates from what is known as the fourth estate. On Press Freedom Day each year, the Media Institute of Southern African (Misa) always invites and calls upon the Minister to speak at this auspicious occasion.Yet continuously the Minister uses the opportunity as a platform to attack the media.It is worthy of mention that International Press Freedom Day this year marked one of the bloodiest years in the history of journalism, with some 150 media workers killed in the course of their duties.It is also worthy of mention that the marking of International Press Freedom Day originated in our capital city, with the adoption here in 1991 of the Windhoek Declaration, a document calling for the implementation of free, independent and pluralistic media on the African continent.The Windhoek Declaration was a milestone event for media not only in Africa, but was emulated in other parts of the world as well.Many local journalists, including the Editor of this newspaper, participated in this historic event, which led the United Nations General Assembly to pronounce May 3 as Press Freedom Day.The media should never be averse to criticism; in fact unlike many of the governments in whose spheres the press operates, it should willingly encourage public debate about its role and its shortcomings where necessary.However, it can be demoralising in the extreme for many journalists to know that year in and year out they offer the platform to Ministers to speak on what is the media’s day, only to have the speakers lash out at them with monotonous frequency.How often, we may ask, if ever, does Government itself provide for the media a platform on which to state their views about Government? The answer is seldom, if ever.Misa in particular has gone out of its way in recent years to show governments in the SADC region that they are not a hostile force, even those in the independent media, which is normally frowned upon by political leaders who largely see the role of the press as a tool for their own information dissemination, rather than a prerequisite for democracy.Part of this ‘conciliation’ was to ask information ministers where they continue to exist, and other government spokespeople, to attend journalists’ functions and commemorations such as Press Freedom Day.Ministers should not be abusing such platforms to simply attack the messenger, but instead to send strong and positive messages to the public that without a free press, a democratic environment would be impossible to maintain.Nandi-Ndaitwah did make a statement to this effect, but unfortunately the main thrust of her speech was overwhelmingly negative.Namibia is fortunate enough to have an environment in which the media are relatively, but not completely, free.Other countries in the sub-continent are not as fortunate, and of course Zimbabwe remains the most glaring example of media oppression.What the Minister should be doing is her homework.To date, and since she took of?ce in the capacity of Minister of Information and Broadcasting, she has visited various media, but not this newspaper.Perhaps because the Government ban on advertising in and purchase of The Namibian with State funds is still in place, she refuses to acknowledge the good work done by this newspaper in terms of informing the population of the country, as well as its social responsibility projects such as the Youthpaper, a noncommercial weekly supplement to The Namibian, costing more than N$1 million a year, and put in place to empower and uplift our youth; as well as the nearly N$1 million invested in the annual Namibian Newspaper Cup, the only national youth soccer development project in this country.We believe, as we have said before, that it is essential that the Minister, and other Government of?cials, appraise themselves properly about media issues, before they mouth off their regular attacks.In view of the above, we would call upon Misa to reconsider inviting speakers from the ranks of Government on May 3 each year.On Press Freedom Day each year, the Media Institute of Southern African (Misa) always invites and calls upon the Minister to speak at this auspicious occasion.Yet continuously the Minister uses the opportunity as a platform to attack the media.It is worthy of mention that International Press Freedom Day this year marked one of the bloodiest years in the history of journalism, with some 150 media workers killed in the course of their duties.It is also worthy of mention that the marking of International Press Freedom Day originated in our capital city, with the adoption here in 1991 of the Windhoek Declaration, a document calling for the implementation of free, independent and pluralistic media on the African continent.The Windhoek Declaration was a milestone event for media not only in Africa, but was emulated in other parts of the world as well.Many local journalists, including the Editor of this newspaper, participated in this historic event, which led the United Nations General Assembly to pronounce May 3 as Press Freedom Day.The media should never be averse to criticism; in fact unlike many of the governments in whose spheres the press operates, it should willingly encourage public debate about its role and its shortcomings where necessary.However, it can be demoralising in the extreme for many journalists to know that year in and year out they offer the platform to Ministers to speak on what is the media’s day, only to have the speakers lash out at them with monotonous frequency.How often, we may ask, if ever, does Government itself provide for the media a platform on which to state their views about Government? The answer is seldom, if ever.Misa in particular has gone out of its way in recent years to show governments in the SADC region that they are not a hostile force, even those in the independent media, which is normally frowned upon by political leaders who largely see the role of the press as a tool for their own information dissemination, rather than a prerequisite for democracy.Part of this ‘conciliation’ was to ask information ministers where they continue to exist, and other government spokespeople, to attend journalists’ functions and commemorations such as Press Freedom Day.Ministers should not be abusing such platforms to simply attack the messenger, but instead to send strong and positive messages to the public that without a free press, a democratic environment would be impossible to maintain.Nandi-Ndaitwah did make a statement to this effect, but unfortunately the main thrust of her speech was overwhelmingly negative.Namibia is fortunate enough to have an environment in which the media are relatively, but not completely, free.Other countries in the sub-continent are not as fortunate, and of course Zimbabwe remains the most glaring example of media oppression.What the Minister should be doing is her homework.To date, and since she took of?ce in the capacity of Minister of Information and Broadcasting, she has visited various media, but not this newspaper.Perhaps because the Government ban on advertising in and purchase of The Namibian with State funds is still in place, she refuses to acknowledge the good work done by this newspaper in terms of informing the population of the country, as well as its social responsibility projects such as the Youthpaper, a noncommercial weekly supplement to The Namibian, costing more than N$1 million a year, and put in place to empower and uplift our youth; as well as the nearly N$1 million invested in the annual Namibian Newspaper Cup, the only national youth soccer development project in this country.We believe, as we have said before, that it is essential that the Minister, and other Government of?cials, appraise themselves properly about media issues, before they mouth off their regular attacks.In view of the above, we would call upon Misa to reconsider inviting speakers from the ranks of Government on May 3 each year.