2015-11-05Staff Report 2 New Era Publication Corporation (NEPC) and the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wednesday, which enables the two corporations to give greater coverage to all 121 constituencies in all 14 regions of the country. NBC and NEPC will henceforth undertake strategic cooperation that will see the two media corporations combine efforts and share resources in order to better inform the Namibian public. “For us, and for me in particular, [the agreement] is very significant in the sense that it would broaden our base in terms of where we can get to. It would also enable us to speak through our stories to people that we ordinarily would not be reaching if we were just to use NBC radio and television,” NBC director general Stanley Similo said. Chief executive officer of NEPC Dr Audrin Mathe said the agreement is “historic in the sense that we are demonstrating a spirit in which public institutions talk to each other… Between the two of us we form a greater public media platform, as we are fully represented across the country’s 121 constituencies. We can cover them properly,” Mathe said. In terms of the MoU, the two public media houses will cooperate in the areas of policy, staff enhancement, share relevant news content, as well as on content development and productions that enhance the coverage of cultural, political, economic and social realities in Namibia. NBC and NEPC already have a commercial agreement in place, but last year started discussions about a more comprehensive partnership agreement. The two institutions will now cooperate in the areas of commercial services, information technology, as well as radio, television and print to advance media freedom and disseminate crucial information to the public. “There are elections coming end of the month. The idea now is to find how the two institutions can pull resources together so that the teams work together. Instead of having two cars following each other to the same event, we have to identify where NEPC is positioned so that NBC does not necessarily have to send a team there,” said Mathe. “NBC and NEPC are not in any form of competition. We serve the greater public of Namibia. Our mandate is the same, focusing particularly on developmental issues,” he concluded. Similo said the new agreement “would be of great benefit to those reading, listening to radio and watching TV.” 2015-11-05Staff Report 2
