In his book, The Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde writes that nowadays people “know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Over a century later, that line perfectly captures the modern dilemma of information. We live in an age where everyone knows how to share, post, or go viral, but few pause to verify, reflect, or understand. The digital revolution, once hailed as the great equaliser, has instead unleashed a storm of information disorders. Thus, misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation now shape public discourse in ways that Wilde himself might have found both tragic and fascinating in equal measure. As such, information disorders are not just about fake news on Facebook or manipulated WhatsApp messages. It is about the slow corrosion of public trust. It is about how rumours become reality in the absence of credible information. And it is about how leaders, instead of strengthening truth ecosystems, sometimes resort to blaming the media. To that end, across the globe, countries have recognised this threat, not merely as a media concern but as a matter of national integrity, social harmony and even security. Kenya’s PesaCheck, South Africa’s Africa Check and Nigeria’s Dubawa are among Africa’s strongest lines of defence against misinformation. The European Union has invested heavily in EUvsDisinfo, a project that exposes coordinated propaganda campaigns. Closer to home, Malawi last year launched iVerify, a homegrown fact-checking platform that empowers citizens to separate fact from fabrication. These are not just media initiatives. They are national safeguards, built through collaboration between academia, media, civil society and government to protect citizens from falsehoods and manipulation. This is in line with the recent Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFA) held in Windhoek, Namibia, which underscored the urgency of confronting information disorders. And yet, Botswana, long celebrated as the “shining democracy of Africa”, remains dim on this front. We seem to believe that because our democracy is relatively stable, we are somehow insulated from the storms of misinformation that have shaken other nations. That belief is dangerously complacent. It is sobering that despite Parliament passing the Access to Information Act in 2024, implementation has not begun. Even in passing the law, Botswana was late to the party. Zambia, our neighbour, has already operationalised its version, while countries such as South Africa, Malawi and Namibia are miles ahead. How ironic that a nation once praised for good governance now lags on one of democracy’s most essential pillars - the right to know. Without access to information, misinformation thrives. Where truth is withheld, rumours fill the void. Again, if the government were to delay acting on the Media Law Reform Task Team’s report, submitted to the Ministry for the State President months ago, it would only serve to deepen the gap. That is because those who participated in the exercise are optimistic that once implemented, it could modernise Botswana’s media landscape and foster accountability. Against this backdrop, claims by the national leadership that the media is “peddling fake news” are not only concerning but deeply instructive. Concerning because this does not distinguish between deliberate misinformation and honest reporting errors, and instructive because it reveals how misunderstood the information crisis is, even at the highest levels of leadership. Blaming journalists for a global phenomenon is like blaming thermometers for fever. The media reflects society. It does not invent it. This means that just like schools, the media is a social construct. The media does not operate in a vacuum, nor do its stories arise from nothing. Therefore, journalism is shaped by the same political culture, educational systems and civic values that define the society it serves. When news falters, it is not only the journalist who is failing but also the collective failure of the ecosystem that sustains truth. That said, Botswana’s information ecosystem is struggling. Official communication channels remain rigid and painfully slow, leaving the public to rely on social media, an arena where opinion often masquerades as fact and emotion easily trumps evidence. Meanwhile, journalists work under outdated laws and limited access to information, yet they are expected to compete with influencers, bloggers and anonymous accounts that face no ethical scrutiny. Other nations have responded with innovative solutions. The United States of America has established digital verification labs in partnership with universities. Finland and Sweden have integrated media literacy into their school curricula. Ghana and Rwanda are building fact-checking hubs that unite journalists, tech experts and civic educators under one coordinated response to false information. Botswana must learn from these examples. Combating information disorders requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, one that brings together universities, media, government, human rights organisations and the public. Universities can study misinformation patterns and educate future communicators. Human rights groups can advocate for access to truth as a civic right, and the government can create a policy framework to protect the flow of credible information. The fight for truth is no longer about journalism alone; it is about safeguarding democracy itself. We must stop viewing misinformation as a media issue and start treating it as a national emergency. Because if Botswana does not act now, it risks losing the very foundation upon which its democratic reputation was built. Truth, after all, will not defend itself. It must be pursued, protected and preserved by all of us. *Thomas Thos Nkhoma is MISA-Botswana chairperson
