Gwen Lister – The Namibian As editor of The Namibian, the country’s biggest-selling newspaper, Gwen Lister is certainly no stranger to Namibians. Her fierce support of the principle of press freedom in Namibia, both before and after independence, and her determination to defend the public’s right to know have never wavered, despite concerted efforts to silence her through harassment and intimidation. Gwen’s journalistic career began in 1975 at the Windhoek Advertiser. She left the paper in protest against editorial interference and co-founded the Windhoek Observer with Hannes Smith in 1978. As the Observer’s political editor, she was highly critical of South Africa’s apartheid practices in Namibia, resulting in the newspaper being banned in 1984. Although Gwen successfully appealed against the move, she was demoted by management for damaging the newspaper’s reputation. After Gwen resigned over the matter, she felt disheartened and depressed. “I thought that was really the end of any kind of alternative newspaper in Namibia; that really the South Africans had pretty much managed to silence everyone.” Yet she was determined not to give up and to tell the very stories that the authorities wanted to keep off of the airwaves and out of the newspapers. So, in August of 1985, Gwen published the first edition of The Namibian.  Because the newspaper was called “The Namibian” in a country that was then South West Africa, it was immediately targeted by the South African authorities and labelled as pro-SWAPO. Political survival became the newspaper’s biggest challenge. Of course, Gwen was no stranger to the South African regime’s intimidation tactics. From the very beginning of her career, her life had been marked by constant threats, harassments and arrests. With the birth of The Namibian, the harassment continued unabated. Gwen says, “the offices were fire-bombed, staff were arrested and harassed, passports were withdrawn, the newspapers were often confiscated by the South African military and advertisers were intimidated. The list goes on.” About the many years of persecution, Gwen says, “I guess they thought being a woman, that if they put the fear of God into me, I’d soon resign from journalism and go on and do something else. But that didn’t happen because the more they targeted me, the more I dug my heels in.” Was she ever scared? She answers that she wasn’t worried so much for her own personal safety, but rather for that of her children. “You developed a kind of immunity [against the fear]. It’s a very strange thing, but I suppose I kind of felt as though nothing would happen to me. I was so completely convinced that I was doing the right thing that I really didn’t look over my shoulder.” Independence brought with it its own set of challenges. For one, donor funding ended and the paper struggled for years to achieve financial sustainability. Furthermore, The Namibian soon came under fire from the new government, as it was critical of the ruling party, reporting on issues such as corruption and mismanagement. Subsequently, The Namibian was labelled as anti-government. Yet Gwen maintains that this is not the case at all. “The Namibian merely reports freely on what it sees. If there are issues to criticise, we do so, and when there is reason to praise, we do so as well.” In 2001, the government put a ban on advertising in The Namibian, and in 2002 prohibited the purchase of the paper with government funds. This does, however, not appear to faze Gwen much. She cites her current biggest challenges as ensuring that The Namibian continues to grow from strength to strength, and enhancing quality reporting and new innovations for readers to ensure the print media still has a strong future, even in the face of new media technologies.  

Gwen has been internationally recognised for her role in journalism, receiving, amongst others, an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists in 1992, and a Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation in 2004. She was named as one of the International Press Institute's 50 Heroes of World Press Freedom in 2000. On The Namibian’s 15th anniversary, Kofi Annan, then United Nations Secretary General, said, “The Namibian worked courageously in difficult and often dangerous conditions. Since then it has contributed immeasurably to press freedom and nation-building in Namibia. Throughout it has maintained its integrity and independent stance.” Gwen says that her  passion and beliefs in what she does - the pursuit of truth to better inform the people – have sustained her through all the difficult times. She is inspired by “the pursuit of excellence” and “those who are able to put aside selfish concerns and work honestly and hard for a better world”, principles she has undoubtedly lived her own life by. Suffice it to say that Gwen is a woman who lives by her own advice: “Follow your passion and give it your all!” Tel: 061-279600 gwen@namibian.com.na