The Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) is the national news agency in Namibia. It was founded in 1987 under the name Namibia Press Association and re-established in 1991, after independence, under its current name.
Media assets
News agency: NAMPA
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
NAMPA was set up as a “juristic person” through the Act of Parliament of the Republic of Namibia No 3 of 1992. The agency is state-owned. The highest governing structure at NAMPA is its Board of Directors whose members are appointed by the minister of information. NAMPA board appoints the agency’s CEO.
Source of funding and budget
NAMPA relies mostly on state funding to finance its operations. The latest financial reports released by NAMPA are for the years 2014-2015. NAMPA’s state subsidy for operations for 2015 was NAD 20m, a decrease of NAD 3m compared to the year before. The agency also generated NAD 3.8m form subscriptions in 2015. In the financial year 2019-2020, NAMPA received a state subsidy of NAD 15m (US$ 920,000), and the following year a subsidy of NAD 20m, according to data from government reports. According to estimates based on data from local sources, the government subsidy accounts for about 75%-80% of NAMPA’s total budget, the remainder being generated through subscriptions.
In 2022, NAMPA reportedly received some NAD 27m (US$1.6m) from the government as a state subsidy. That was a significant increase compared to NAD 14m in the previous year.
Editorial independence
NAMPA claims to publish stories that are critical of the government where such criticism is warranted. The office of the state president has also reiterated that it does not interfere in NAMPA’s editorial affairs.
However, the agency is known among local experts and journalists to be under government control. The Editors Forum of Namibia strongly disagrees that the agency is independent and critical of authorities. The Media Ombudsman in Namibia has recently criticized cases of censorship at NAMPA.
NAMPA has an editorial guide that sets editorial rules that the agency’s staff are obliged to follow. However, this guide does not qualify as a statute that establishes the editorial independence of the agency.
There is a Media Ombudsman in Namibia, which is an independent assessment institution that takes complaints about all the media in Namibia, calling 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 NAMPA, the Media Ombudsman includes in its work NAMPA’s coverage and often refers to it. Yet, this institution doesn’t guarantee the editorial independence of the agency.
September 2023