When truth is twisted: Newslink’s warning to Botswana’s media
THOMAS NKHOMA | Monday June 8, 2026 06:00
There is a subtle but dangerous distinction between telling the truth and using the truth to deceive. At first, the statement appears contradictory. How can facts mislead? Yet anyone who has worked in a newsroom knows that truth, when stripped of context, selectively presented or timed to inflict maximum damage, can be just as manipulative as an outright lie.
A photograph can be genuine but cropped to conceal what matters. A quotation can be accurate but isolated from the fuller argument. A document can be authentic but published in a way designed less to inform the public than to settle scores, destroy reputations or advance hidden interests.
This is what scholars and information experts call malinformation: authentic information used strategically to cause harm. Botswana has seen this phenomenon before, albeit in a different form. When Newslink Africa was launched in Gaborone in 1990, it looked like a legitimate newspaper. It was professionally produced and carried the familiar appearance of an independent publication.
However, beneath that polished exterior was a covert political agenda.
Investigations later revealed that Newslink was allegedly funded by apartheid-era South African operatives as part of a broader campaign to influence public opinion in the region. Newslink did not rely on obvious falsehoods. Its power lay in its ability to package narratives in the credible language of journalism.
That is why its story remains relevant.
It reminds us that the most effective propaganda is not always fabricated. Often, it is constructed from real facts arranged to produce a predetermined conclusion. Today, this danger has become more pronounced in Botswana’s media landscape.
A worrying trend has emerged in which some newspapers increasingly publish accurate information but in ways that appear calculated to shape perception rather than deepen understanding.
Facts are selected with surgical precision. Context is omitted. Headlines are framed to provoke. The cumulative effect is not necessarily to inform but to nudge readers towards a particular interpretation. The information may be true. The narrative may still be misleading. This is where journalism enters ethically perilous territory.
Philosopher Hannah Arendt warned that the greatest threat to public life occurs when people lose confidence in their ability to discern reality. In such an environment, citizens become vulnerable not only to lies but also to truths weaponised for political and commercial ends. The challenge is compounded by media capture.
Media capture occurs when news organisations become beholden to powerful political, business or foreign interests. Influence may be purchased through advertising, sponsorship, access or other forms of patronage. Editorial independence is not always surrendered openly. More often, it is gradually eroded until journalists begin to anticipate what their benefactors want.
The result is a press that still appears free but whose editorial choices are subtly shaped by unseen hands. Added to this is the growing concern over Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference, commonly known as FIMI. This involves attempts by external actors to influence domestic debate and public opinion in pursuit of strategic objectives.
Such efforts frequently rely on local media and social platforms to amplify narratives that are technically factual but carefully framed to advance external interests. The danger, therefore, is no longer confined to fabricated stories. It lies in the orchestration of genuine information to achieve manipulative outcomes. For journalists, this presents a profound ethical test.
The central question is no longer simply whether a story is true. It is whether it is fair, proportionate and presented with sufficient context for the public to understand its significance. Truth without context can be a form of distortion. Facts without balance can become instruments of persuasion.
Journalists must, therefore, resist the temptation to become conduits for agendas they do not fully understand.
They must ask difficult questions: Why is this information being promoted now? What context is missing? Does the presentation help the public understand or merely provoke reaction?
The first duty of journalism is not to embarrass, excite or inflame. It is to enlighten. Botswana’s democracy has benefited enormously from a vibrant and independent press. However, independence is not guaranteed by ownership alone. It is sustained by ethical discipline, editorial courage and an unwavering commitment to the public interest.
The Newslink saga teaches us that a newspaper can look credible while serving hidden objectives. The rise of malinformation, media capture and FIMI reminds us that the same danger persists, albeit in more sophisticated forms. A newspaper should be a mirror, reflecting reality as honestly as possible.
When that mirror is deliberately angled to favour certain interests, it ceases to reflect the truth. It begins to manufacture perception. When journalism is used to shape reality rather than reveal it, the press risks becoming not a watchdog of democracy but a weapon in the contest for power.
*Thomas Thos Nkhoma is MISA-Botswana chairperson