In Namibia, freedom of the press is guaranteed by the constitution and is a vital and precarious right in a situation of an overwhelming two-third governing party majority vs a weak opposition.
The media scene is concentrated in the capital Windhoek. At present, three daily and four weekly newspapers are published. The news predominantly deals with local and national topics. Due to the small print run and a tight budget, the layout and appearance of the publications are not up to European and American standards. A modern printing machine could not be afforded yet.
The economic newspaper "Namibia Economist" also appears on the weekend. Besides these independent newspapers there are two publications controlled by the government; the "New Era" and the SWAPO paper "Namibia Today". Both are weeklies with a relatively small readership. They don't have websites.
Namibia's television and radio broadcaster NBC (Namibian Broadcasting Corporation) belongs to the government. In August 2002, President Nujoma dismissed his Information Minister and took the position over himself and ever since, many journalists have had fears over the freedom of press in Namibia. Critical journalists have been admonished a couple of times already and the government often applies for interdicts to ban critical articles. Many Namibians prefer to receive South African programs of the SABC via satellite or international channels via MNET. And the Capetonian company Deukom provides German channels via satellite.
The oldest Newspaper is the daily "Allgemeine Zeitung" in German. On weekends it has a feuilleton and once a month a tourism section. The widest spread newspaper is the English "Namibian", a quite well laid-out paper with balanced, informative and moderately critical articles. The "Republikein" is aimed at the Afrikaans speaking population. All three dailies have websites. The "Windhoek Observer" comes out on weekends and is done in the style of the rainbow press of the seventies, always including large-format pin-up girls.
