nbc Director General Stanley Similo has reminded political parties and broadcasting licensees of the strict election campaign blackout period, which came into effect 48 hours before Polling Day.
The blackout period bans the broadcast of any political party campaign-related content and is stipulated in the Broadcasting Code of the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia.
The nbc has fully complied with the Broadcasting Code.
Under this rule, all broadcasters must cease airing political party election campaigns, political advertisements, or any material canvassing support 48 hours before polling begins.
The statutory regulation, which came into effect at seven o'clock this morning, is enforced by the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) to ensure fair and impartial elections.
"All broadcasters who have been issued with licenses from CRAN must stop all forms of campaigning. Whether it is paid for or otherwise, that is why, at 7 o'clock this morning, the nbc, both on radio, television, and online, has gone quiet in that regard. This is so that we can comply with the provisions of the regulator, and if we don't do that as nbc, we will be in trouble, in such that we might even lose our operation of broadcasting in this country."
Meanwhile, the national broadcaster's election readiness has been thoroughly assessed, following the deployment of reporters across the regions to cover the elections.
"We have been ready; about a week ago, we deployed our staff to the regions, which a couple of regions we will broadcast live. In fact this morning we had a taste of what it is because within Good Morning Namibia, we were already crossing across the country also for us to see the readiness of our staff, but linked to that, we have also made sure that everybody goes through some orientation training, and we also sought assistance from former journalists, very senior for that matter, who are at areas where we cannot be. So our state of readiness is ready as it can be."
He said despite the demand for election coverage, the nbc has successfully ensured balanced coverage of political party activities.
"Apart from elections being here, other stories are happening as well. within Namibia, particularly in the areas where we do not get daily. It's also now an opportunity for us to capture other information that may not be time-bound that we can use. In that way, we enrich our own content, so our team knows that wherever they are, they must also just find human interest stories about that area that ordinarily would not feature on nbc, and the same for radio as well. Yes, we are ready, but the deployment is primarily informed by the idea that, come the 27th of November, which is Wednesday, we should then be able to relate what is happening throughout the country because viewers, listeners, and online as well will be depending on what we show and give them throughout the day."
Similo expressed gratitude to the nbc staff and support from the board, acknowledging that the job is particularly demanding during election time.