Press freedom under siege – Experts
Media experts, legal practitioners and development partners have raised concerns over gaps in press freedom, access to information and journalist protection in Namibia. They warned yesterday that legal and digital challenges are putting pressure on independent journalism. The concerns were raised during the launch of the African Media Barometer report, an assessment of the media... The post Press freedom under siege – Experts appeared first on New Era .
Media experts, legal practitioners and development partners have raised concerns over gaps in press freedom, access to information and journalist protection in Namibia. They warned yesterday that legal and digital challenges are putting pressure on independent journalism. The concerns were raised during the launch of the African Media Barometer report, an assessment of the media environment conducted by the Namibia Media Trust (NMT) in collaboration with the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and DW Akademie.
The AMB report makes seven concrete recommendations to government, regulators, media organisations, and civil society. These include appointing the information commissioner and operationalising the Access to Information Act without further delay; repealing criminal defamation and strengthening statutory source protection; improving transparency in state advertising allocation; protecting the editorial independence of the NBC; enacting data protection legislation and establishing independent oversight; updating the national code of journalistic ethics and developing guidelines for AI and journalism; and building more coordinated civil society engagement on media freedom. NMT executive director Zoé Titus said the barometer is based on the African human rights framework and draws its assessment criteria from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression.
