Public Dialogue: "The Media must be considered a Public Good during elections"

The media must be considered a public good in times of elections and resources to capacitate electoral bodies and other stakeholders for elections must also be channeled towards training of journalists to cover electoral processes.

This was said by experts during a public dialogue and panel discussion on the role of the media in promoting democratic elections in Namibia organised and hosted by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Namibia and fesmedia Africa yesterday.  The event that took place at the NUST Hotel school in Windhoek underscored the media's pivotal function in ensuring transparent, free, and fair elections and informing the citizens to participate in electoral processes meaningfully.

In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Hajo Lanz, the Representative of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Namibia and director of Fesmedia Africa said Namibia, a model democracy in Africa in many respects, has consistently demonstrated a commitment to transparent, free, fair, and democratic electoral processes, fundamental values that must be guarded jealously by all stakeholders- with the media playing a crucial role in those efforts.

Christie Keulder, an Independent Researcher and a panelist at the event argued that journalists need to be capacitated through mentorship and ensuring financial security for junior journalists to promote quality journalism. He further said the lack of experience in newsrooms has resulted in journalists or interns not having experience doing the work, which is stressful for them, leading to the quality of journalism being compromised. 

Another panelist, Dr. Phillip Santos, a media lecturer at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) said that it is important for the media to provide an environment to foster effective election coverage.  This requires properly trained journalists and the media needs financial support from resources earmarked for election preparation. 

Shelleygan Petersen, a reporter with The Namibian Newspaper lamented the precarious conditions of work journalists often find themselves in, the mental health issues they face and how these affect the quality of their output.   She also argued that reporters need training on elections so that they have the necessary skills needed to engage in election reporting.  

According to Dr. Tabani Moyo, the director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) who participated virtually as a panelist, the media must be considered a public good, unfortunately in most cases in the region, “the media has to do the impossible with limited resources”. He called for concerted efforts to resource the media and for Electoral Management Bodies to sensitise reporters on elections.

The discussion also highlighted other challenges, including the rise of disinformation and misinformation, the need for ethical reporting and diminishing trust in the media and steps that should be taken to strengthen the media and position it as the centerpiece for democracy and democratic elections.

In his closing remarks, Dickson Kasote, the Programme Manager at Fesmedia Africa said to fulfill its role in democratic elections, the media needs to maintain a high level of professionalism, accuracy and impartiality in their coverage and this can only be achieved by adhering to the regulatory frameworks in place such as the Code of Ethics and Conduct for Namibian Print, Broadcast and Online Media.

The public dialogue which was moderated by Laimi Elago, a radio broadcaster, was held in the framework of FES’s work on supporting media, elections and democratic participation in Namibia.