Licencing for state broadcasters disingenuous

While licencing is a move in the right direction, MISA Botswana does not see any reason to celebrate in this case. Firstly, because a precedent has been set where Radio Botswana (RB1) was licenced but is yet to operate like a true public broadcaster. There has not been any change to suggest that RB1 is a public broadcaster as would be generally expected.

Secondly, the commercial aspect hanging on the RB2 licence needs to be either removed or be set stringent conditions.
While we commend the NBB for calling for separate accounts to monitor RB2's advertising revenue, we feel it should go further and explicitly stipulate that the station's advertising charges should not render the business of private commercial radios unviable.