State media should serve the nation equitably

During the last Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Council that former president Ian Khama addressed before handing over the baton to President Mokgweetsi Masisi, he ‘warned’ his successor against the media and their fake news.

It would seem like President Masisi would turn a deaf ear on the warning. Instead, the current President and his party made many promises to the media industry and Batswana at large about improved relations with the private press. However, it seems like he has since reneged on his promise, or maybe those he works with are letting him down? Whatever the case, the private media demand better. After wider consultations with stakeholders and promises to bring to Parliament a new piece of legislation regulating media workers, there have been delays on the side of government to deliver on its promises. Earlier this year, Minister for State President, Kabo Morwaeng rounded up media houses and other stakeholders promising to deliver on the government’s promises. Lo and behold, the visits were in vain. We are still waiting Rre Morwaeng.

Reporters without Borders (RSF) ranked Botswana the 39th country in its World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) in 2020 out of 180 countries recording an improvement of five places compared to 2019. Botswana obtained a global score of 23.56 points in the 2020 WPFI, unlike 25.06 in 2019. To understand the index, the lowest points reflect a perfect score. The -1.53 drop, considered an improvement comes after President Masisi opened up to the media, unlike his predecessor Khama, by way of frequent media appearances, according to the 2019 WFPI.

“Nonetheless, there is still no law on access to information, which journalists have long been demanding. State-owned media still falls far short of providing a public news service and continues to be under the government’s sway, to the point that they are now directly supervised from the President’s office,” RSF observed.

The President seems to have slowed down on his promises and we are not amused. He has since scaled down on his interactions with the media by way of press conferences and in the process the media fraternity has been segregated further. We continue to see the independent media being excluded from some of the activities undertaken by the presidency while State media employees are invited. It is high time this stops.

We would also like to express dissatisfaction by what seems like continued capture of the State media. How do we have a whole Leader of Opposition’s speech cut short when responding to State of the Nation Address (SONA)? With the number of Botswana Television (Btv) channels having had increased, our hope was this would cater for at least full coverage of Parliament and other important airings. We urge management at Mass Media Complex to deliver what the President promised and broadcast for the public and not the State.