Oshakati – Oshana Regional Governor Clemens Kashuupulwa has heavily criticised the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), accusing the public broadcaster of having “selective morality”.
Kashuupulwa was speaking during his meeting with Minister of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) Tjekero Tweya in Oshakati on Saturday.
“One of the main challenges we face from government media houses is that there is a selective morality from NBC television that is only covering beauty pageants, leaving out national leaders,” he said.
The governor said in Oshana Region there are several people that feel left out by NBC, and other government media that are supposed to educate, inform and entertain the nation.
He gave an example of times he assigned his special advisor to read his speech at national events but he has never seen him on TV.
“Can you imagine a traditional leader sitting at the main table with the minister but they will never appear on TV. All you see there are those beautiful ladies on TV instead of national leaders,” he said.
“This is omission and outside morality. I tried to investigate about this matter but I found out that the problem lies within the editorial management of NBC, but not with the cameramen and reporters,” said Kashuupulwa.
He called on the editors to be professional and balance news content.
“If you are an editor and practising the selective morality and favouritism then you must consider yourself as ‘illiterate’,” said Kashuupulwa.
In response to the governor’s remarks, Tweya said he would visit all the three state media houses in the region in order to engage them and find a lasting solution on the issue raised.
Tweya promised he would identify all the challenges facing the state media houses in order to review the ministry’s strategic plans and respond to the issues as soon as possible.
Tweya will visit the NBC regional office in Oshakati, New Era offices and Nampa in Ongwediva on Tuesday this week.
“Information is power and no Namibian person must be feeling left out from the information,” said the information minister.
by Loide Jason