A complaint that is often levelled at Namibian media, in general, is that they do not listen to the average man or woman and their community. The Echoes Polytechnic Student News Service is set up with the aim of providing coverage of issues that affect those at the grassroots of Namibian society.

The existing perception is that Namibia has a top – down approach in media coverage. The Echoes Polytechnic Student News Service, as a project of the Media Technology Department of the Polytechnic of Namibia (PON), was created precisely to counter this perception. Also, it was set up to provide a practical environment for journalism students in order to prepare them to function in the professional media sector after completion of their studies.

Echoes 2004 staff and consultants

The project came about through funding from various donors and partners of the Media Technology Department, including 40.000 euro from NIZA.

As a multimedia news service, staffed by nine first- and second-year journalism interns/students of the department, Echoes aimed to produce stories for both print and radio as well as for web-based distribution through the Echoes website.


Electioneering process

The project officially kicked off in mid-2004, during the cultural festival of the PON, with Campus Echoes, a daily newsletter/paper, distributed during the four days of the cultural festival.

In late August 2004, with the focus of the project shifting to coverage of community issues in the run-up to the national, regional and presidential elections, which took place in November 2004, interns were sent to various corners of the country to organise and conduct focus group discussions in communities in order to gauge grassroots interest in and perceptions of the political processes involved in the electioneering process.

In each of these communities stories, related to issues affecting the particular community and the broader society, were then done and distributed through the mainstream media, particularly the print media. In addition to the Namibian, New Era daily newspaper, NBC radio (National Broadcaster) and the Katutura Community Radio (KCR, a community radio station) utilized Echoes’ stories.


Quality

Stories compiled by Echoes journalists appeared mainly in the English-language press weekly and sometimes almost daily. "There was a sense of achievement," said Pauliina Shilongo, Project Co-ordinator of Echoes.

As the elections drew closer, some foreign election observers and even established media practitioners, who were sceptical at first, commended the project on the quality of articles produced.

Subjects and issues covered by Echoes ranged from gender equality and HIV/AIDS to poverty and development. An early analysis, done by media consultant, Patricia Made, of Echoes coverage stated that "none of the (first) nine stories contained language that perpetuates gender stereotypes or stigma or discrimination against any groups."


Pioneering

"I think it was a very stunning experience," said Johnathan Beukes, second-year intern and editor of Echoes, on his experience with the project. "I feel like I was part of something pioneering that will go on and become something very meaningful."

And Head of the Media Technology Department, Emily Brown, said that the project fits in nicely with what the department and PON are trying to achieve.

She explained that the Media Technology Department of the PON was established in 2000 after extensive research was conducted into the need for a qualification in the fields of journalism and communication technologies.


Qualification

"So many practising journalists in Namibia don’t have qualifications," explained Brown. "But we had to prove to the Senate of the PON that there was a need for the qualification and the best way to do this was through research."

"Our research found that 65% of practising journalists in Namibia did not have a qualification. So we asked journalists if they would like to see such a programme of study and they said yes."

On the future of the Echoes project, Pauliina Shilongo, said: "My hope is that Echoes will become a very strong student news outlet."

"I hope that one day the department Media Technology at PON will also become a research institute on media and journalism in this country."



Example of article by Echoes News Service

More information: Polytechnic of Namibia

Frederico Links is a second-year journalism student and Echoes intern as well as a freelance print journalist for mainstream media. fredericojlinks@yahoo.com