The ''New Era'' is a daily national newspaper owned by the government of
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...
. The newspaper is one of four daily national newspapers in the country, the others being ''
The Namibian
''The Namibian'' is the largest daily newspaper in Namibia. It is published in English and Oshiwambo.
History
The newspaper was established in 1985 by journalist Gwen Lister as a weekly newspaper reliant on support of donors, which aimed to ...
'' (English and
Oshiwambo), ''
Die Republikein'' (
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
) and ''
Allgemeine Zeitung'' (
German).
''New Era'' was created by the ''New Era Publications Corporation Act of 1992''.
According to Ullamaija Kivikuru, it copied the format of ''The Namibian'' in order to establish credibility. The two newspapers still resemble each other in having long stories spread over several pages.
''New Era'' has a usual circulation of 9,000, going up to 11,000 on Fridays.
[Rothe, ''Media System and News Selections in Namibia'', p. 23.] It was established as a weekly newspaper and was later published only bi-weekly. It has appeared daily since 2004.
''New Era'' is published in
English and five indigenous languages:
Otjiherero,
Oshiwambo,
Damara/Nama,
Silozi, and
Khwedam.
''New Era'' is published by the New Era Publication Corporation, which is owned by the
Government of Namibia
The government of Namibia consists of the executive, the legislative and the judiciary branches. The Cabinet is the executive organ of government, implementing the laws of the country. It consists of the president, the prime minister and his de ...
. The Minister of Information and Communication Technology has the ability to appoint and discharge members of the board of directors. Several researchers report that government ministers have acted as direct owners of the newspaper, telephoning the editorial department about articles that have criticised them.
[Rothe, ''Media System and News Selections in Namibia'', p. 24.] Because of this, the newspaper is perceived to be
SWAPO-friendly, and is "often reproached for being biased in favour of the government."
However, a 2006 study by Swedish students found ''New Era'' to be "more critical and fierce" than ''The Namibian''. This analysis was based on only two opinion pieces per newspaper though.
The managing editor of ''New Era'' is Festus Nakatana.
See also
*
Media of Namibia
References
{{Reflist
External links
NEW ERA websiteNEPC websiteNew Era Newspaper website
1992 establishments in Namibia
Daily newspapers published in Namibia
English-language newspapers published in Namibia
Government of Namibia
Herero language
Ovambo-language mass media
Newspapers established in 1992
Weekly newspapers published in Namibia