The rest of the week, the newspaper will be available only in PDF format or online. Prior to the digital revolution, Daily News published as many as 80,000 copies each weekday, ensuring nationwide distribution, even in some of the most remote parts of the country where other mainstream media outlets seldom reached. Consequently, while on the surface this looks like a long-overdue embrace of the digital shift, beneath lies a more sobering reality, cost-cutting. The government, like many others around the world, is under financial pressure and looking for ways to trim expenditure including printing costs and staff overtime.
This development should concern all of us, not just those working in the media. It reflects a much larger problem. The shrinking space and sustainability of journalism in Botswana and across the globe. In 2O13, and again just this year, I wrote about the urgent need for newspapers in Botswana to rethink how they should fund journalism. It is no longer sustainable to rely solely on traditional revenue streams. Advertising is down. Print circulation is dwindling. And now even the government, the main backer of a national publication like Daily News, is pulling back. Sadly, not everyone sees this as a crisis. Some people, often those who feel wronged by journalists or who hold grudges against certain publications, are celebrating. They argue that journalism in Botswana has become useless, full of propaganda, fabrications and fake news. They point to missteps by the media and conclude it has lost its way. However, such tendency to make a sweeping dismissal of the media misses the bigger picture. It overlooks the indispensable role that journalism, when done well, plays in democratic life. Thus, informing citizens, exposing wrongdoing and giving voice to the voiceless. In the vacuum left by struggling newsrooms, something else has emerged - social media influencers. Many of these self-styled commentators have no journalistic training, no editorial oversight and little regard for ethics. Yet they are fast becoming the go-to source of “news” for the public. Their popularity is undeniable. But their reliability? That is another matter. In Botswana, we have already seen how this can spiral out of control. Influencers have, with no evidence, accused individuals and politicians of heinous crimes such as ritual killings. Reputations have been destroyed on a whim. The digital mobs they command can ruin careers and lives overnight, all without the burden of fact-checking or accountability. Some are even paid to assassinate characters or push particular agendas under the guise of “content creation.”
