Martin Endjala
Media Ombudsman John Nakuta has raised concerns about political parties focussing their campaigns on personalities rather than addressing voter issues.
Nakuta said this last week in Windhoek during the release of the Media Ombudsman’s second media monitoring report on the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“Political parties are very much of centred personality, and we want to get to a point where we inform the general public on issues affecting them,” he stated.
Nakuta noted that, compared to the previous report, there is still a lack of agenda-setting by political parties.
He said he hopes the next report will reveal the issues political parties are discussing following the launch of manifestos.
“While political parties are not discussing these issues, what prevents journalists from starting to report on issues instead of waiting for them, especially now that parties have launched their manifestos?” he questioned.
The report highlighted an increase in overall election coverage, noting that the number of statements covered rose from 2244 in the previous report (June to July) to 5665 in the latest report (July to August).
Swapo received the most media coverage, followed by the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) and Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF).
The report also indicated that state-owned media covered Swapo at 55%, compared to 45% by private media outlets.
Other parties, including the Affirmative Repositioning Movement (AR), the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), and the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO), received a fair share of coverage.
The Media Ombudsman’s monitoring project aims to assess how media, both legacy and online, cover the 2024 elections.
The project seeks to promote responsible journalism and ensure that media outlets provide accurate and fair information necessary for public participation in the democratic process.
