Botswana Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
March 12, 2012
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country's media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and began studying Africa in 2006.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download Complete Botswana Chapter (PDF): 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7
MSI Botswana-2010 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 2.31
President Ian Khama of the ruling Botswana Democractic Party (BDP) won the parliamentary elections held in October 2009, a process that completed his succession to former president Festus Mogae. Although the BDP won 53.26 percent of the popular vote, various local media report that the ruling party is beset with deep factional rivalries, and its poor relations with the private media are believed to weaken its support. The government's 2009 decision to place the Ministry of Communications, Science, and Technology under the Office of the President, and the Media Practitioners Act (MPA), ushered in at the end of 2008, did not help to improve government-media relations.
While Botswana's constitution guarantees the freedom of expression, it is subject to limitations by statutes such as the DIrectorate of Corruption and Economic Crime Act, the Botswana Defense Force Act (BDF), and the National Security Act (NSA), along with the MPA. Furthermore, access to public information remains contentious. "There is no access to informaiton legislation, and access to some types of information is often denied under the guise of national security," said Gladys Ramadi, a broadcasting specialist at the MISA Regional Secretariat. Along with the government's attempts to financially undercut the private media, hindering their access to advertising revenue, some MSI panelists question whether principles of a free press have been infused into modern public administration. And yet, despite these obstacles, Botswana's social norms promote and guarantee free speech, attested by the Tswana adages that translate to "everyone has the right to express his mind and thoughts freely."
Furthermore, the media community and civil-society organizations are not taking the legal attacks on press freedom lightly. The passage of the MPA prompted local civil-society and media organizations to form an umbrella organization, aptly named the Coalition for the Freedom of Expression (COFEX), in 2009 to lobby for media rights. In August 2010, the group filed a petition with the country's High Court challenging the constitutionality of the MPA.
Still, given the existence of draconian laws and uncertainty surrounding the MPA, MSI scores for Objective 1 (freedom of speech) declined. Objective 2 (professional standards of journalism) scores increased slightly, indicating that efforts were being made by local media to remain professional despite the punitive medai legislative environment. Objective 3 (media plurality) scores also increased, while Objective 4 (business management) scores remained roughly the same despite concerns over the threat of emerging concentration of private media ownership in Botswana. Objecitve 5 (supporting institutions) increased to 2.49 compared with 2.28 in the previous period, reflecting the panelists' recognition that more NGOs have stepped up to work with Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) Botswana to challenge anti-media laws and practices.
The Botswana study was coordinated by, and conducted in partnership with, the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
