WINDHOEK – The Director of the Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID) Naita Hishoono says political parties should stop playing the blame game when it comes to the amount of media coverage they receive in the media.
She advised political parties contesting the 2014 poll to rather look at how they can make themselves visible to the voting public.
Hishoono said there are many ways political parties can campaign, and using excuses they do not have money holds no water as there many things they can do including fundraising.
She said all political parties contesting the national elections have been trained on how to write press releases, and use social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
“It’s up to political parties to step up their game,” she added, saying that the moment you register a political party, you should have reached a maturity level financially and politically and should know how to access information.
Hishoono said those who feel the field is not level should have known that it is a tough game, and mentioned Swapo and DTA as some of the political parties that have stepped up to the plate with professional campaigning.
“Some political parties are organized – the difference shows,” she continued, adding that political parties need to keep an active relationship with the media.
Some parties accused the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and some newspapers of giving more coverage to Swapo at the expense of smaller parties.
But the Director General of NBC, Albertus Aochamub, recently promised that the national broadcaster would equally distribute free airtime to all political parties by following provisions in the Namibian Constitution and the Electoral Act.
Carola Engelbrecht, the Director of Citizens for an Accountable and Transparent Society (CATS) said she could not see much difference in terms of coverage of political parties from previous elections, but it would be interesting to find out how many political parties gave input into drafting the NBC policy on elections.
“If not, it’s regrettable to be on a platform and not give input,” she said.
However, Engelbrecht said parties were only given equal time on NBC’s Election Corner programme but Swapo rallies continued to dominate the news.
She added that in general, newspapers were giving reasonable coverage to all political parties although adverts of Swapo rallies were giving the ruling party an advantage. She however commended the NBC for giving a lot of airtime to the launch of party manifestos where there is no intervention.
The Director of the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), Graham Hopwood, said it was difficult to measure the amount of coverage each party received but as from next week, they would be doing analysis and monitoring.
“But I do think NBC’s decision to give equal free air time is commendable,” he said, adding that it was a positive development as the NBC was under no obligation to do so.
By Magreth Nunuhe