Themes - Publishing Print media in Southern Africa faces a number of challenges. Publications are mainly accessible in urban areas due to high printing costs and poor national infrastructure which makes distribution difficult and costly.
Consequently, rural populations do not have access to print media, even if they could afford it. In order to gain profits, newspapers tend to print sensationalistic stories and often avoid topics that are crucial to the development of the country.
Wilf Mbanga, co-founder of the currently banned independent Zimbabwean newspaper 'The Daily News' writes a column for the NiZA-website.
Sensitive political topics are often avoided due to the threat of state -sponsored harassment, imprisonment or even closure. A number of laws provide for jail terms for publishing information that is deemed a threat to national security and defence and public moral for example.
The publishing unit aims to contribute to greater access to information via print media through support to community newspapers and other print media initiatives. These media are printed for rural communities and often published by the communities themselves.
The Big Issue magazine is a member of the International Network of Street Papers, which was set up in 2002. It is sold by the homeless and the long-term unemployed of Namibia. The articles in the magazine cover a range of subjects, with a focus on social issues that affect Namibians as well as entertainment. These choices are related to the fact that the Big Issue is the only general interest Namibian magazine and it aims to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.
Changing destitute people’s attitudes from a hand-out mode to that of a hand-up and self-employment turned out not to be easy. Many potential vendors just expect charity, and don’t want to put in any effort themselves. Still, the staff members of the Big Issue are making good progress as they continu to increase their vendor base each week.
