Khama advised to befriend the media
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday January 9, 2015 16:34
According to the report, except for The Patriot, WeekendPost, Yarona FM and Duma FM who are viewed as sympathetic to the BDP, the rest are seen as hostile.
The report says it is fundamental that the president improves relations with the media.
“While we may have reasons not to engage the media, staying away grows the stereotypes we are trying to get rid of, and presents us to the voter as aloof,” reads the report, which was submitted to the central committee on December 8, 2014.
The reports say disengagement by the president from the media was making it difficult for the party to make in roads with some media houses. This is one of the things the committees believe that has contributed negatively to the party’s performance.
The report says it is clear from general election performance that their party’s image needed to be re-engineered. It says the population demographics of the country have changed over the past years and the party needed to rise and be on point with the changing times.
“As such, an exercise regarding the party and positioning it in manner that will reflect the importance of younger voters will help us face off an opposition that mostly relit on appearing more friendly to young voters,” reads the report in part.
Also, the committee worries about the ruling party losing youth and many may have lost faith. They are reported to be seeking alternatives in opposition parties. The authors recommended that the leadership connect with younger generations of voters and the middle class.
“Our media strategy will be instrumental at helping sustain this, quite importantly we should not fold operations and return to the period of waiting for the next election to start our media work.”
Though in the report the BDP admits that there are good things they learnt from Timor Consultancy, the Israeli company the party engaged for the 2014 general elections, it reflects general discontent. The committee proposed that next time when a consultancy is engaged, they should be set clear lines of operation.
It, however, acknowledges that Timor Consultancy injected some new changes to BDP regarding how it has been operating.
The report says BDP can still do well in 2019 if the party adheres to recommendations made by different party sub committees.
It also urges the party to continue creating jobs for Batswana since it has been an important issue shown by the research they had done during election time.