Newspaper celebrates 20th anniversary

Namibia’s only public newspaper, the New Era held a gala dinner to make the celebration of its 20th anniversary on 11 July 2011. The New Era newspaper started as a weekly newspaper in 1991 under the auspices of the then Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

It became a daily newspaper on 2 August 2004. Apart from reporting in English, New Era also reports in five indigenous languages on a weekly basis. Currently, New Era has 57 employees, excluding freelancers and correspondents.

The Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Joël Kaapanda pointed out that it is already known that the editorial policy of New Era is predicated on the fact that good journalism is a product of fair, accurate and balanced reporting.

Kaapanda believes that it is important to remain focused, saying New Era has a niche market through its special focus on issues of development. This is what makes the newspaper different and more relevant compared to other mainstream newspapers, he said.

The minister said the newspaper’s special focus on development is borne by the fact that the majority of Namibians unfortunately still live in underdeveloped settlements and towns away from central areas where there is a concentration of economic activities.

“Development journalism therefore gives the newspaper a unique advantage on the market,” said Kaapanda. The focus on development issues must also be seen in light of the newspaper’s corporate social responsibility, added Kaapanda.

He also noted that the New Era newspaper, amongst other print media, has the best editorial coverage of all regions and rural areas in the country. //End//

 
Reagan Malumo
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht St
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Mobile: +264 81 311 2626
Official Email: reagan(@)misa.org
Private Email: reagan32002(@)yahoo.com

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