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The media is there to inform, educate and entertain. Together with the three arms of government, namely; the Executive, Parliament and Judiciary, they are the building blocks for democratic advancement. Beyond the fact that the media is a business like any other, it gives people the platform to communicate among themselves and with their leaders. This is why the media, because of its watchdog role is referred to as the Fourth Estate. The media, because of its ubiquity, becomes a very necessary institution to help develop our democracy. It continues to provide an alternative platform through which the voiceless can, among other things, air their views about how they are or would like to be led. The day the powerful in society stop complaining or become at peace with the press, then the media will have no relevance in a democratic set-up. It will be failing to play its watchdog role, which includes amongst others being the voice, the ears, the mouth, the eyes and the heart of discourse in our society. It should be appreciated that the role of the media is not to write positively about leaders neither is it to write negatively about them. It reports events as they unfold. It is not the responsibility of the media to shore up anybody's image. That is the role of the spin-doctor and unfortunately, the media cannot be expected to play a public relations role. If you want to be heard you have to say something newsworthy otherwise you will have to come up with your organisation's own newsletter. Messaging is not only important if you want to be heard, but also crucial. As you spin so shall you reap spin. The usual complaints against the media are; lack of publicity, negative publicity or bias. There is a feeling in some circles that failure to be covered or to receive negative publicity means the media is not carrying out its mandate. I believe when the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Deputy Secretary-General, Jacob Nkate went to complain at The Gazette offices, he was also under the impression that they were only receiving negative coverage. No self-respecting newspaper will publish a story just because it is coming from a particular individual. It has to be newsworthy as it competes for space with many other stories. As they say Media land is a hostile environment where words are bombs aimed at hitting the target. An authority in media relations opines that "going to the media without a story is like going to the lion's den without meat". Don't cry about not being covered. Rather use that energy to package your message in such a way that it can be user friendly and appealing to the media. There is always competition within the media to increase market share. What sells is what will attract the readers. The more readers you have, the more attractive you become to advertisers. Advertising brings in the bulk of the revenue particularly in a small population like ours where circulation figures are not that big. In our society, which is always looking for new information, the media is used as a comfort blanket to appease information anxiety, they say. That information has to be the kind of information that the reader is looking for. This is why the audience is increasingly in charge and calling the shots in terms of what goes into the paper. It therefore guides the media as to what they should cover. Dynamic news value plays a role in the daily decisions about which event to cover. This coverage, it has to be noted, involves committing material, human and financial resources in the search for information that will ultimately sell, increase the market share and recoup expenses. While it is generally agreed that our media is still developing, it has to be equally acknowledged that it is not small. We now have professionals working in this industry who know the obligations of their calling. These are men and women who have a fully functioning Press Council set up to regulate them and ultimately improve the standard of our media. Of course here and there, you might find some bad apples which leads to excesses and unfair reporting in some instances. But in which industry will you not find them? At times in our criticism of the media, we become too harsh and forget that we are dealing with individuals who have a sense of pride like you and me. Individuals who are as human as you and me who can commit mistakes like you and me. Whether some of us like it or not, we cannot wish the media away. What therefore is needed is to tolerate the media and appreciate its role in a democratic set-up. The media does not create news but covers them. As a nation, we have to remove all those obstacles that stand in the way of the development of a vibrant media that is free from any form of bias and fear. A reporter should not fear that because he/she falls under the Public Service Act he/she will be reprimanded by the minister. His/her only fault being that he/she wrote something the minister did not like. Because of the sensitivity of this sector, media persons should not be politically accountable to anyone. It is for this reason that the government should turn the Department of Information Services and that of Broadcasting Services into a parastatal that will be controlled by a Board that understands the functioning of the media. Some sections of the Security Act and the Corruption and Economic Crime Act have to be reviewed to ensure that those clauses that impede the smooth functioning of the media are dealt away with. Though no reporter has been convicted as a consequence of those Acts, the mere existence of such provisions has a chilling effect on media freedom. As a nation, we have to ensure that the Freedom of Information Act is introduced as a matter of urgency. Our media has done a lot to expose corruption and lack of accountability within our society and it has to be applauded for having done a sterling job so far. However, I believe there is stillroom for improvement and there is no doubt that our media will rise to the challenge. At times you wonder how well our media would have done if it was not so much under-resourced. With adequate resources, the media will not have a problem in covering more developmental issues. Like some have argued before, we should seriously consider funding those institutions that help develop our democracy. Mohwasa is the BNF publicity chief. He writes in his personal capacity
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