Imminent news media reform a complete necessity
Kabo Ramasia | Tuesday August 19, 2025 08:52
It should be interesting to note its contents, which are not yet public. However, let’s be a little patient. Hopefully, it will be timeously shared with stakeholders for appreciation now that the OP has received it. The Task Team, appointed in March, was mandated to work with all media stakeholders in lieu of reforming legislative frameworks that impede free speech, reviewing the Media Practitioners Bill, and generally looking into issues of media sustainability and how the media as a business can be protected by either policy or law from current economic headwinds. Chaired by former Mmegi Editor, Gideon Nkala, the team comprised seasoned veteran journalists, academics, MISA and Botswana Editor’s Forum chairpersons, legal experts, among others. The team began its work with a clear mandate that its work would result in media reforms that are needed as of yesterday.
Prior to setting up the team, Minister Mohwasa had expressed the government’s intentions to start relations with the media on a clean slate following strained relations witnessed under the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). The appointment of this team was therefore in the aftermath of a Media Pitso convened by the government in December 2024. Having led a team of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Botswana, as we presented before the Task Force and having attended some of the team’s consultations with the media, many issues were at stake here. The preliminary question of who a journalist is sprang into most interactions and of course, whether one needed a qualification to be deemed a journalist. Whilst at it, opinions were divergent, and while in most cases tempers were flaring. But in the end, various views were delivered respectfully, for that matter. That’s what matters the most. Nkala and his team surely may have encountered challenges along the way.
However, in the end, they sure delivered on this national duty as tasked by the minister. For that, we thank you for your efforts, comrades. Kudos to you all! Nevertheless, I’m not writing this as a praise poet. I wish to bring your attention to uncomfortable issues now. The media laws review, as done by Nkala and co, addressed pertinent questions of who qualifies as a journalist, accreditation, media regulation, media laws, and several other legislations impeding journalistic work and media sustainability. I am curious to know who a journalist can be. Colleagues were divided over this. I hold the view that qualifications don’t make one a good journalist. They just aid one’s knowledge of subject matter, and globally, laws don’t force journalistic qualifications. Nevertheless, whatever verdict would be a consensus. Dear ladies and gentlemen of the Task Force, I, for one, and many other free speech staunch advocates, would wish to imagine that yours was not just a box-ticking exercise. One shudders to imagine that if indeed it was, then perhaps a tragedy of Shakespearian proportions awaits us. However, let’s assume it was not. I take great comfort in the credibility of the Task Force looking at its members.
One hopes that as you handed over the report to Minister Mohwasa, himself a former publisher and a seasoned spin doctor in the political arena, it was the beginning of a new era of reforms for local media. Why do reforms matter? Reforms are part and parcel of our existence as mankind. They donate an evolution in the manner of doing things. Just like any other fraternity, the media cannot afford to be static even in the face of massive disruptions, particularly to its business model and the New Media revolution. All these must be embraced. We must sadly acknowledge that the old advertising model, which has for centuries generated profits for media organisations, is collapsing or is being overtaken by time. That’s a fact. Businesses have migrated online, and most now own advertising courtesy of platforms like Facebook, Google, etc, which have proved to be both a blessing and a curse for journalism. On the positive side, platforms have enabled instantaneous access to news while exploring digital platforms for revenue, whilst on the other hand, platforms have pushed mainstream media out of business, and many newsrooms around the world continue to shut down due to business loss. There must be a way in which countries, more especially in the Global South/ Developing Countries/ Poor countries, review the economic impact of those platforms to leverage the digital economy. Journalism should not be an exception in that regard.
Regarding New Media, there have been significant increases in the number of online/digital publications over the years. The mushrooming of online publications has torn the local media apart, with some stigmatizing them, whereas others have come to embrace them. But whatever the case may be, New Media is upon us, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Unless we reverse the Industrial Revolution, which is plain impossible now. Digital publications come in two forms: authentic and junk. Some are purely found on goodwill and, like other media outlets, exist to serve news. Others have proved to be just adding numbers and, in most cases, cannot even construct a simple sentence. Truth be told, the conversation in most media engagements has been on with those against criticizing them for copy and paste without referencing or acknowledging sources. Despite this, perhaps that’s the price we had to pay for failing to nurture journalism so well. Currently, the industry at its knees as it is. Had journalism reformed itself, maybe many of those who rush to create digital publications would still be practicing in mainstream. But no is the answer! Many factors contributed, including the government’s deliberate decision to stifle the media of advertising, thereby collapsing most news outlets over the years. To this end, only the resilient have survived. However, it’s no time to cry for spilt milk. The question is, where to from here? The arrival of digital platforms into our local media ecosystem was critical. There was no way we could miss out on this revolution. Unless we are not that progressive. Imagine if Botswana did not have a single podcast? Online newspapers/Magazines/ Newsletters, and all. It would seem absurd in modernity. In dealing with digital publications, let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture, as statistics show that advertisers have moved their money online. They also create a healthy industry competition.
Further, on a different note, another important issue is that of regulation now that reforms seem to be underway. It would be interesting to see the nature of the regulation as prescribed by the Task Force for possible adoption into law. This will go a long way in navigating the seemingly difficult terrain, particularly as it pertains to New Media. How do we regulate digital publications, podcasts, online TVs, and radios without necessarily infringing on free speech? Will the recommendations call on the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCA) to regulate state broadcasters? What would be the minimum threshold for setting up a digital publication? However, there is a need to emphasise that journalism must not be muzzled under the guise of new laws. That would be a conundrum. Journalism still must remain in its purest form amidst all these envisaged reforms. Moreover, on the aspect of media sustainability, which in my view is the most important of all, there must be a spelled-out policy intervention for the media business, which has hit a crisis point. Hear me and hear me very well. The issue of public funding of journalism as a public good, as I have reiterated in numerous platforms, will come in handy here. What models does the industry adopt for an economic resuscitation? Additionally, this must key in New Media as part of the reforms.
Lastly, I don’t intend to dwell much on the tedious behaviour of most government organizations, departments, and parastatals as endured by journalists in the past when dealing with them. Some journalists are still nursing wounds. For a clueless entity like the DIS, as it appeared to be in the past, it should be a thing of the past for DIS agents to raid newsrooms under the pretext that they are trailing national security stories. We believe Peter Fana Magosi and his lieutenants have learnt lessons and are indeed born again, as he once confessed at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing. Also, it should be so stone age for government spin-doctors to kill journalistic enquiries through press release or take months to respond to simple journalistic enquiries. I believe the reforms should come from a good place, bearing in mind that laws like that of the DCEC, Penal Code, Whistle Blowing, Declaration of Assets and Liabilities, and many more, whose crafting did not have journalism at heart, will be revised. The time is nigh for an Access to Information law. It should be implemented without fail. In parting, journalists should be equally reminded of their responsibility to society.
The responsibility to the truth, always. Journalists are not infallible and must learn to take criticism if it is constructive and well-intended. Like humans, journalists will always err, but in doing so, it should err on the side of caution rather than ignorance. Journalism as the watchdog in society will be criticized and should brace even more if it does not threaten the media's existence. To politicians, please tone it down a bit when dealing with the media and know the right channels to utilize when aggrieved by journalistic work. Like yourselves, we would perceive that most journalists mean well to this country. I think both politicians and journalists should reach a common ground without even though it should not come as a compromise. In Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Shylock, one of the main characters, reminds us that “all people, even those who are not part of the majority culture, are human.”
On the same basis, this is aptly captured by Alexander Pope when he wrote in his Essay on Criticism: “To err is human, to forgive divine.” Let’s always remember that both politicians and journalists are not immune to err and criticism, and neither should behave in a holier-than-thou attitude.