The state media has been often accused of biased news coverage in favour of the government during the rule of the previous Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) regime. Speaking on behalf of the State President minister, Foreign Affairs minister, Phenyo Butale, admitted that he was aware of the finding of the Ombudsman on the disproportionate state media coverage of the ruling party as to the opposition parties. “It is in that regard that my administration and ministry has publicly stated our intentions to transform the state media into an independent public broadcaster in the spirit of equity and inclusivity amongst others. We, therefore, do not want to be given special treatment at the expense of other political parties, hence, our position to convert the state broadcaster into a public broadcaster,” he told Parliament this week.
Butale was responding to questions from the Member of Parliament for Tswapong South, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang, who had asked, among others, when the State media will become a public broadcaster to ensure editorial independence. Butale said his ministry is currently transforming the State media to become a Public Broadcaster with an Autonomous Broadcasting Board. He further revealed that work is in progress, with the Draft Cabinet Memorandum having been developed together with the ITT, which has been developed to engage a Consultant to further the transformation. He said they have held discussions with MISA and the Editors Forum and set a deadline at the end of March for involved parties to look at the Draft Cabinet Memo. “We want their contributions so that we can look at where to change and the international standards when it comes to public broadcasters and the colonial era style of state media,” he said. Furthermore, he said a consultant will be hired to handle the issue going forward.
Butale said there used to be the Broadcasting Act of 1998, which was repealed to implement the BOCRA Act of 2013. He said they will now be forced to change the BOCRA Act because the latter solely focuses on State media, not public broadcasters. Butale said he does not believe that there is much difference between the State media from the BDP era and UDC era no wonder changing to public broadcaster is the solution. Gobotswang said they have always complained about the State media coverage. “There are engagements in public discourse, and it’s like the State media is in their own country; they don’t follow certain issues. For example, there was a recent issue where Lobatse MP Kamal Jacobs accused President Duma Boko of threatening his life. Also, there was an issue of Boko’s discourse with MPs. Now we are discussing an issue of Hemp, and the State media is not covering varied opinions. All of these issues are not reported by the State media,” he said.
