State Media: Politics and power

Mass Media
Mass Media

Although we have talked ad nauseam about how democratic we are as Botswana, we have avoided transforming some of the institutions that are critical to our democracy such as the State News Media.

Only desultory attempts have been made to reform this institution since independence in 1966. In the following discussion we attempt to show why this institution was established and how it has been used as an instrument of national development and abused as a political propaganda tool.

In this discussion we adopt the title ‘State News Media’ because news is power. Let’s first agree that what we refer to as State News Media is nothing else but government information services.

Editor's Comment
Routine child vaccination imperative

The recent Vaccination Day in Motokwe, orchestrated through collaborative efforts between UNICEF, USAID, BRCS, and the Ministry of Health, underscores a commendable stride towards fortifying child health services.The painful reality as reflected by the Ministry of Health's data regarding the decline in routine immunisation coverage since the onset of the pandemic, is a cause for concern.It underscores the urgent need to address the...

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