BFA and shabby World Cup accreditation

| Friday February 19, 2010 00:00

The BFA has finalised 'its' list of journalists to cover the World Cup in South Africa. From the onset, the process was shrouded in secrecy. Some journalists were in the dark regarding the process. In fact my colleagues at Mmegi and others outside Gaborone did not know that they were supposed to submit their names to BFA for consideration.

Some missed the deadline and it will not be surprising that sports journalists in Francistown, Maun, Selebi-Phikwe and other places far from Gaborone were not aware that there was accreditation taking place.

BFA marketing and communications officer, Phakamile Kraai says he sent a press release to all media houses informing them about the process. It is strange that a phone call to a number of media organisations revealed that they did not receive such correspondence. It then raises the question: who was told to apply and what criterion was used to select journalists?

Was it done clandestinely? One can only assume but it is increasingly becoming clear that some sports journalists were denied the opportunity to apply. Never mind being selected, but every sports journalist was supposed to be afforded the opportunity to apply. Why has the BFA not informed the presumably few who applied that they have not been successful?

I am not privy to the names that have been selected and it is difficult to assume that they applied after being invited to do so through the purported media statement sent by BFA.

Mmegi is a daily publication but it is a big surprise that there is no reporter from the group that has been accredited. There might be a misguided notion that I am campaigning for Mmegi journalists to be included in the list, but a daily publication, be it Daily News or any other should be given serious consideration. The World Cup will be rolling on a daily basis and the reader has to be kept abreast with fresh news including match reports. I do not have anything against journalists selected from other publications. But the selection process was supposed to be transparent and inclusive.

Sports journalists should have been involved in this process. BFA's responsibility is to run the affairs of football but I have serious doubt about the administrators' capability to judge a good or badly written soccer report.  It therefore begs the question; were sports journalists not supposed to be consulted in this process as the criteria for the selection was murky?

I made it clear during my conversation with Kraai that the whole issue smacks of favouritism although he denied the accusation saying the process was above board. There will be some who might feel mine is a case of sour grapes, but I believe my views represent a considerable number of fair reasoning colleagues.

Kraai argued that journalists from the state media were 'obviously' supposed to be included. I humbly requested him to justify this. Government journalists should be considered on an equal footing as their peers in the private media without any exclusive treatment.Kraai said they needed government support in this but I beg to differ sharply.

FIFA allocated a certain number of World Cup slots for journalists per member country. For Botswana, there were five slots for reporters and two for photographers. The accreditation is sorely for the purpose of access to matches, nothing beyond that.

The media house or individual who has been accredited bears other expenses like transport and accommodation. I therefore found Kraai's reason thoroughly unconvincing.

He spoke about the need to have two female reporters; it is not clear if it was based on merit or simply gender. In the absence of a convincing explanation, I find the whole process to be a fallacy.