Namibia: Media only focus on Politicians

Windhoek — A joint study by The Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa)'s Namibian Chapter, Misa Namibia, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Media Tenor South Africa on the media coverage of the 2004 Namibian Presidential and National Assembly Elections found that elections did not appear on the radar until three weeks before polling day.

Compared to non-election political content, the volume of articles dealing with elections, parties and politicians was extremely low, the study established. The volume of statements, however, peaked during the second and third week, then stabilised to around 3500 statements per week.

Newspapers, the study further established, did not have favourites as all parties got coverage from most if not all papers often in near equal proportions. Newspapers did not report with value judgments and most statements were without clear positive or negative slants, thus no party had any reason to complain as none was systematically slanted.

With more than a month to the polls and with elections campaigns yet to heat up, no final assessment can be made on media coverage on the current election, as yet. Nevertheless, New Era spoke to three personalities in the media fraternity to gauge their views on whether the media is doing justice in its coverage of elections thus far, and if not what they are not doing right.

Emily Brown, Head of the Department of Media Technology and lecturer at the Polytechnic of Namibia is of the opinion that the reporting of elections in the local media is based on events and speeches.

"Thus, it's largely leaders and officials that are speaking. You don't hear the voices of ordinary people," the lecturer adds. Brown says elections should be about the people and what they want.

She goes on to say that 80 percent of sources used by the media are male and very few females feature or are heard on political issues.

"That has to change, we need to hear from both men and women. The reportage is also capital city-based and not all people are heard," Brown states, noting that sources used should reflect the demography of the nation and should not be selective.

"What I would like to see are issues being discussed, such as education, what are the policies of political parties on education," Robin Tyson, a lecturer at the University of Namibia (Unam) says.

He adds that the media could bring out what the parties' election manifestos are saying and how they want to implement the policies and strategies.

He suggests a presidential debate of all candidates on national television, stating that it could be very useful for the electorate.

Another issue that Tyson refers to is equal coverage for all parties, in terms of time allocated and space granted. He opines that the print media allocates equal space to all political parties compared to the electronic media.

Tyson thinks the media is currently too dominated by politics as compared to other issues. "It's too much overload. Is that going to change my mind now? I believe people made up their minds long ago," he notes.

Tyson reckons it is a waste of space and print and advises the media to also look at other issues besides politics as people are tired of only seeing and reading about politics.

"The media must do follow-ups in a year's time to see whether parties lived up to their promises in their manifestos," Tyson advises.

Marbeline Mwashekele, Acting National Director, Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa), Namibian Chapter, Misa Namibia.

The Acting National Director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Misa, Namibian Chapter, Misa Namibia, Marbeline Mwashekele, says the organisation feels the current focus of reporting by journalists is too much about the political parties and their political leaders than the electorate.

"There definitely is a need for journalists to focus on and do in-depth investigations into the social, economic, civil and political issues that affect Namibians on a daily basis. The elections after all are about how the votes of the public are to influence and be affected by who is in government," Mwashekele adds.

She further states that not a lot is reported on political leaders being taken to task on the substance behind what they are "campaigning" on.

Misa Namibia, however, congratulates all media that are open, fair and informative on their reporting on relevant election issues.

 

 

- October 22, 2009 by Irene !hoaës

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Source: allafrica.com/stories/200910221017.html (accessed 23.10.2009)