WINDHOEK – Namibia sunk from the 19th to 22nd spot on the recently released 2014 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, but it still maintains the highest ranking in African in terms of upholding press freedom.
The Reporters Without Borders index measures the state of media freedom each year globally and this reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news media and citizens enjoy in each country. It also takes into account efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom and further measures the level of self-censorship in each country and the ability of the media to investigate and criticize.
Last year, Namibia became the first African country to clinch a spot among the top 20 countries on that index when it moved two places up from the 21st place on the index to the 19th spot. Namibia has now been overtaken by Canada, which is now in the 18th spot, up from its 20th spot ranking last year.
Other Western democracies such as Belgium dropped from the 21st place to the 23rd spot, while the United Kingdom, which was in the 29th place, went down to the 33rd spot. The United States of America fell significantly from 32nd to a lowly 46th spot far below Namibia. The same three European countries that headed the index for the past three years maintained their rankings, with Finland, Netherlands and Norway distinguishing themselves as the countries that respect media freedom the most.
Eritrea (180) still maintains the last spot for the fourth year running, followed by North Korea and Turkmenistan, where freedom of information is said to be non-existent. Belize has been added to the index in the 29th position. For the second year running, the bottom three countries are immediately preceded by Syria (177), where a deadly information war is still being waged, and Somalia (176), where rebel jihadist and terrorist groups and pirates prevent any significant improvement in their rankings. Iran in 173rd spot completes the list of the ten countries that respect media freedom the least. Other African countries that improved their rankings as the highest placed African countries were Cape Verde in 24th place and Ghana in the 27th spot. South Africa also leaped from 52nd to the 42nd spot and is one place just behind Botswana.
The 2014 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index spotlighted the negative impact of conflicts on freedom of information and its protagonists. “The ranking of some countries has also been affected by a tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed,” reads the report. It said the European Union member countries are becoming more dispersed in the index, a development accelerated by the effects of the economic crisis and outbreaks of populism.
The Minister of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) Joe Kaapanda said despite Namibia’s slight regression, it is still a worthwhile achievement. “It shows that some shortcomings might have built up. We need to improve on performance to ensure we maintain a high trajectory,” he said. Kaapanda said not only government, but all stakeholders in the media need to improve behaviour to contribute and enhance the country’s media ranking. He said defamation cases against media outlets could have contributed to the regression. “Media practitioners must adhere to the code of conduct and objective reporting to live up to the expectations of the industry,” he emphasized. Media Ombudsman, Clement Daniels, said he did not know what criteria were used to arrive at the index, but added that Namibia still maintains a conducive environment for freedom of the media and expression. He said professional standards are not always upheld, hence the many defamation cases and complaints to the Media Ombudsman. He said his office has made an impact as the media knows the code of ethics and are more cautious. Eberhard Hofmann, chairperson of the Namibia Editor’s Forum (NEF) and the editor of the Algemeine Zeitung, said Namibia’s decline in ranking is not a significant change and the country still leads in terms of media freedom. “Investigative journalism must also be promoted,” he added, saying that inaccessibility of government ministries to provide information is a factor that continues to hamper the flow of information.
By Magreth Nunuhe