13 August 2009
MEDIA STATEMENT

MINISTER of Information and Communication Technology, Joel Kaapanda, has applauded the appointment of Clement Daniels as a Media Ombudsman by the Editors’ Forum of Namibia, saying the appointment had come at an opportune time when Namibia is heading for the November 2009 Presidential and General Elections.

The Minister met members of the EFN in Windhoek on 13 August 2009, and congratulated Clement Daniels for being appointed the Media Ombudsman. EFN presented a copy of the Forum’s Constitution and the adopted Code of Ethics for the Namibian Media during the meeting, and the minister said he was curious to know how the Media Ombudsman would operate and whether all of Namibia’s media were part of this initiative.

Commenting on the role of a Media Ombudsman during elections, the Minister said it was a time when the Media Ombudsman would be tested whether he has teeth adding that only time would tell whether the Media Ombudsman would be fair and credible.

An effective Press Council, Kaapanda said, would ensure that the reader is not “harmed by unscrupulous and shoddy journalistic practices”, adding that the Press Council would give the reader a platform from which to air his/her grievances against “biased, inaccurate or inadequate reporting on matters of legitimate public interest”.

The Chairperson of EFN, Eberhard Hofmann, handed over a copy of the Forum’s amended Constitution which provides for the setting up of a Media Complaints Committee, the appointment of an Ombudsman, an Appeals Board chairperson and 12 panellists who will adjudicate cases together with the Ombudsman on an alternate basis. The Constitution has a Code of Ethics that will be used to measure the professional conduct of Namibian media.

Editors raised concerns over how the self-regulatory mechanism that has been established by EFN will work with Government’s proposed regulation of broadcasters contained in the Communications Bill and asked the minister whether Government would consider removing the aspect of regulating broadcasters so that this would fall under the self-regulatory mechanism.

Editors also asked whether the Minister would ensure that Government media are fully on board in this mechanism. The Minister said there would be no harm in removing government regulation of broadcasters and letting it come under self regulation. He however noted that Government needed to see how the implementation of the self-regulatory mechanism would be done.

Asked whether the Ministry would ensure that Government media would subscribe to self-regulation, the Minister said he believed that the NBC, New Era and Nampa were on board and pointed out that consultations should have taken place to iron out reservations that others might have about self-regulation.

The editors also informed the Minister that the self-regulatory mechanism was membership free-driven and would therefore be independent from Government and from donor funding. At this juncture, The Namibian announced that it had set aside N$50,000 to kick-start the self-regulatory process.

The Minister suggested that Forum’s Constitution be translated into local languages so that it is made available to a wider section of the Namibian public.
Eberhard Hofmann
Chairperson
Namibia Editors’ Forum