Reporting on NUST worries Mathe
The information ministry’s executive director, Audrin Mathe, has cast aspersions over state-owned newspaper New Era’s reportage on several scandals engulfing the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), calling it ‘embarrassing’.
Taking to social media last week, Mathe said the “public media must not be used to fight personal battles”.
He told Namibian Sun that he has raised his concerns with New Era’s leadership, but hastened to add that this is where it ended because the ministry has no right to interfere in the newspaper’s editorial decisions.
“The media must be independent, but it needs to stick to the facts. When we use our reporting to create a different image, it is a concern. We are not the freest press on the continent by accident, but by design,” he said.
New Era managing editor Johnathan Beukes said they have no comment on Mathe’s views.
The media ombudsman, John Nakuta, also declined to comment after NUST dragged the newspaper to his office to seek recourse.
All the wrong reasons
The university has been making headlines – not only in New Era – for all the wrong reasons, including allegations of corruption, nepotism and favouritism levelled against its vice-chancellor Erold Naomab.
The situation has reached boiling point, with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) ordering a forensic investigation into the institution’s affairs while higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi called a crisis meeting recently to instruct NUST’s leadership to fix the institution’s reputation.
Namibian Sun recently reported that the minister expressed disappointment that despite the university’s leadership being a concentration of experts, they are not able to find common ground.
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Taking to social media last week, Mathe said the “public media must not be used to fight personal battles”.
He told Namibian Sun that he has raised his concerns with New Era’s leadership, but hastened to add that this is where it ended because the ministry has no right to interfere in the newspaper’s editorial decisions.
“The media must be independent, but it needs to stick to the facts. When we use our reporting to create a different image, it is a concern. We are not the freest press on the continent by accident, but by design,” he said.
New Era managing editor Johnathan Beukes said they have no comment on Mathe’s views.
The media ombudsman, John Nakuta, also declined to comment after NUST dragged the newspaper to his office to seek recourse.
All the wrong reasons
The university has been making headlines – not only in New Era – for all the wrong reasons, including allegations of corruption, nepotism and favouritism levelled against its vice-chancellor Erold Naomab.
The situation has reached boiling point, with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) ordering a forensic investigation into the institution’s affairs while higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi called a crisis meeting recently to instruct NUST’s leadership to fix the institution’s reputation.
Namibian Sun recently reported that the minister expressed disappointment that despite the university’s leadership being a concentration of experts, they are not able to find common ground.
[email protected]
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