Subscribe & Follow
Advertise your job vacancies
Namibian Media Ombudsman, progress in self-regulation
WINDHOEK: Six months after the establishment of the office of the Namibian Media Ombudsman in November 2009, it is reported that seven complaints from the public have thus far been handled. The Media Ombudsman is a self-regulatory mechanism for the media established by the Editor's Forum of Namibia.
In terms of the Constitution and Code of Ethics adopted on 13 November 2009 by the Editor's Forum, its role is to deal with complaints about media organisations the public may feel have published unfair or biased reports or breached professional ethics in some other way. In August 2009, the Editor's Forum appointed human rights lawyer and former magistrate Clement Daniels as media ombudsman.
Together with the Media Complaints Committee and a Media Appeals Board, the ombudsman will adjudicate on complaints by the public and institutions against the media.
Several editors of media houses have expressed reserved optimism for this mediating entity for the media industry, claiming that it is too early to judge, yet that the future of the ombudsman's office forecasts progress on self-regulation for the industry. It can enhance the independence of the industry to regulate itself in its dealings with the public and the government. This gives the public a large the opportunity to air their grievances against the media, without necessarily incurring huge court costs.
Source: MISA
