Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Apology to the Judicial Service and Judges

Home National Apology to the Judicial Service and Judges
Apology to the Judicial Service and Judges

One of the foundational tenets of the Code of Ethics and Conduct for Namibian print, broadcast and online media is that the news shall be presented without exaggeration, and with respect for dignity and reputation.

Last week, we let our guard down and published stories and an editorial that fell way below the standards that we had set ourselves.

We ran an editorial on the Judicial Service Commission of Namibia, which painted a picture of a non-transparent commission with regards to the selection of a judge for the Fishrot corruption trial.

We dropped the ball by not following acceptable principles of journalistic conduct by, among others, referring to members of the Judicial Commission as ‘lieutenants’ of somebody. The editorial management of the New Era newspaper herewith extend a wholehearted apology to the Commission.

We have failed the judiciary, and by extension Chief Justice Peter Shivute, in
our mandate by calling respectable members of the judiciary names. 

We regret publishing opinions that came through as antagonistic, and as targeting a respectable branch of power in Namibia.

We admit that the editorial was disrespectful and xenophobic to Judge Moses Chinhengo and the Zimbabwean judicial system. 

As a media organisation, we deeply value our commitment to consistently delivering well-researched articles on matters of national, regional and global importance in the realms of politics, socio-economics, culture, governance and development. 

We sincerely apologise for falling short of this standard in our recent content on the Judicial Service Commission, and we are dedicated to regaining that level of excellence.

We have thus taken corrective measures internally, and promise to keep looking into our conduct, and processes, and to close the loopholes that we find.

With that, we hope that our work will remain a trusted service to our audience.

Please accept our genuine apology.