Mmegi

What role should journalism play in Botswana’s national security architecture?

Newspapers PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Newspapers PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

For generations, national security was a relatively straightforward concept. It conjured images of soldiers guarding our borders, police maintaining law and order and intelligence agencies quietly protecting the country from external and internal threats.

Security was tangible because it had uniforms, checkpoints, surveillance and strategy. Conversely, some of the greatest threats confronting nations today arrive without passports.

Interestingly, they arrive through smartphones, social media platforms, anonymous online accounts and increasingly, through artificial intelligence capable of generating convincing text, images, voices and videos within seconds. The battlefield has changed and perhaps our understanding of national security should also change with it. In my previous article, I reflected on a recent investigation by Forbidden Stories which featured the testimony of a former journalist turned propagandist in the Central African Republic.

Editor's Comment
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