Since the MISA media awards ceremony, Mogae has been busy telling all that the media has grown significantly in the last ten years. He cites such things as the number of titles that have hit the streets as the measure of such growth. Interestingly Mogae ignores to mention the number of titles that have collapsed within the same period. This selective analysis gives us no substance and gives a dishonest interpretation of the media development within that period. If the president would like to take credit for the new publications he must as well take blame for those that collapsed.
The latter argument perhaps makes more sense than the former. Although I would not agree with those who directly link the collapse of newspapers to the government, I still maintain that government is partly responsible. The Government of Festus Mogae has shown no enthusiasm in developing media and nurturing the few houses that had come on board. If anything the Government continued to come up with hostile policies, such as the commercialisation of the state media, particularly the Daily News.
