New Era Publications Corporation (NEPC) publishes the daily newspaper The New Era and other print publications.
Media assets
Publishing: New Era, Kundana
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
NEPC is owned by the Namibian government and was created through the New Era Publications Corporation Act of 1992. The company’s highest governance structure, its board of directors, is appointed by the minister of information following a cabinet endorsement. The board, through its chairman, appoints the company’s chief executive officer.
The government reportedly plans to merge NEPC and the Namibian Press Agency (NAMPA) to save money. In May 2024, news emerged about a Ministry of Information and Communication Technology report outlining these plans. The newly planned company follows the company ZimPapers in Zimbabwe as an example. According to local observers, the new entity would cost taxpayers significant amounts of money, which would go into paying executives and board members who could include managers from state-run companies such as NamPower, NamWater, and Telecom. According to the report, both NEPC and Nampa would keep their trademarks. The newly formed company could be named Namibia Multimedia Network, Namibia Media Corporation, Namibia Content Corporation, Content Corporation of Namibia or Content Conglomerate, according to the proposed changes. It is not yet clear what the timeline for the merger is.
According to estimates from local experts, NAMPA and NEPC have an operating cost of NAD 75m (nearly US$4 m) and joint liabilities of some NAD 154m.
Source of funding and budget
Without detailed financial accounts, the percentage of the state subsidy in NEPC’s total annual budget is unknown. However, local journalists and experts say that the state allocation is significant in NEPC’s total budget, accounting for more than half of its turnover. According to the state budget, in the financial year 2019-2020, NEPC received an annual subsidy of NAD 10m (US$613,000), the same as the following fiscal year. That was a significant cut compared to previous years.
The reduction in state funding for NEPC was said to jeopardize the publisher’s financial sustainability. NEPC also generates funding through ad sales, which is insufficient to keep the publisher afloat. Yet, in the 2022/2023 financial year, the state subsidy allocated to NEPC doubled compared to the previous year. According to media reports, NEPC received NAD 27m (US$1.6 m) that year. NEPC is financially accountable to Parliament.
Editorial independence
NEPC, especially its flagship publication, New Era, is known as a government-preferred vehicle for the dissemination of government-vetted information, including advertisements. NGO and academic reports published during the past few years indicated that NEPC’s publications, especially New Era, are under government control.
No domestic statute establishing NEPC’s publications’ editorial independence has been identified.
There is a Media Ombudsman in Namibia, an independent assessment institution that takes complaints about all the media in Namibia and calls on media outlets to remedy the situation or improve their editorial coverage. Although it is not a mechanism established specifically to monitor the editorial coverage of NEPC’s publications, the Media Ombudsman includes the coverage of NEPC’s outlets in its work. Yet, that is not a guarantee of NEPC’s editorial independence.
July 2024