Namibian media under digital siege
Local media houses have been under strain, with some reducing their workforce, others cutting salaries and removing benefits and shutting down regional offices, while others have abandoned printing, all due to the loss of advertisers to online platforms.
These and others were the sentiments shared yesterday by a group of panelists from the media industry, focusing on journalism insight of World Press Freedom Day under the theme ‘Journalism Under Digital Siege’.
“It is there for all to see how badly revenue has been impacted, affected and chopped off. I can only hope for two things, which are not in our control. One is for big tech companies to start realising they are not producers of content, and news will remain local,” stated The Namibian’s editor Tangeni Amupadhi.
He added that the advertising industry should start appreciating the people they are trying to reach, and the dollars they are cutting from local news organisations are killing the audience they are trying to reach.
New Era Publication Corporation (NEPC) CEO Christof Maletsky said the issue of digitalisation has pushed the media to become more innovative.
“Newsroom innovation is driving change in a lot of our traditional media houses today. Journalists are no longer people who just go out to write stories accompanied by a photographer; they have become multi-skilled people,” he noted.
Maletsky said there is a need for newsrooms to visualise things that traditional newsrooms never predicted.
NBC director-general Stanley
Similo said based on what they have seen in the Namibian case, the digitalisation aspect has not greatly impacted revenues at the national broadcaster at this stage. But there are other factors in the country that need to be considered.
“Access to any form of online presence is also dependent on how well broadband is available throughout the country. At this stage, I wouldn’t believe that’s an issue impacting that from a revenue perspective”, he opined.
With social media and other platforms creating challenges for the media, he said the focus should be equally set on internet service providers because for as long as broadband cost is going to be high, one will always have a low element of connectivity.
EU ambassador Sinikka Antila said this year’s World Press Freedom Day theme focuses on the role of the online media environment, impact on freedom of expression, safety of journalists, access to information and privacy.
“The communication ecosystem has changed considerably with the emergence of social media, even to the extent that one could say that quality journalism remains under threat by ‘fake news’ and ‘disinformation’. We have seen this in elections in Europe and the US, in Covid-19 communication, and now in the Russian war against Ukraine,” she stated.
Information minister Peya Mushelenga said World Press Freedom Day allows voicing support for journalists who continue to provide the public with reliable and timely information – a task that has not only become more important, especially in a time where misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms hamper the good work done by journalists.
Mushelenga added: “There is a growing trend globally where technology companies are monitoring the work of journalists and information shared by their sources. Unauthorised surveillance can expose information gathered by journalists, including from whistleblowers, and may also harm the safety of all involved by disclosing sensitive private information which could be used to threaten the principle of a free and independent press.”
He made a call to technology companies globally to ensure that they are transparent with their human and automated systems to remain within the framework of democracy and freedom of the press.