New Era Publications Corporation (NEPC) publishes the daily newspaper The New Era and a few 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. It was created through the New Era Publications Corporation Act of 1992. NEPC’s board of directors, the company’s highest governance structure, is appointed by the minister of information following a cabinet endorsement. NEPC board through its chairman appoints the chief executive officer of the company.
In a move aimed to save money, the government is reportedly planning to merge NEPC and the Namibian Press Agency (NAMPA).
Source of funding and budget
In the absence of detailed financial accounts, the percentage of the state subsidy in NEPC’s total annual budget is not known. 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. In the financial year 2019-2020, NEPC received an annual subsidy of NAD 10m (US$ 613,000), the same as the following fiscal year, according to the latest state budget. That was a significant cut compared to the previous years.
The reduction in state funding for NEPC was said to jeopardize the financial sustainability of the publisher. NEPC also generates funding through ad sales, but that is far from sufficient to keep the publisher afloat. Yet, in 2022, the state subsidy allocated to NEPC was double compared to the year before. NEPC received NAD 27m (US$ 1.6m), according to media reports. 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 the government control.
No domestic statute that establishes the editorial independence of NEPC’s publications has been identified.
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 NEPC’s publications, the Media Ombudsman includes in its work the coverage of NEPC’s outlets. Yet, that is not a guarantee of NEPC’s editorial independence.
September 2023