1.7 Civil society in general and media lobby groups actively advance the cause of media freedom. ANALYSIS: Participants were disappointed that DitshwaneloBotswana Centre for Human Rights did not want to participate in the Panel and some felt that this was an indication of how civil society has left MISA Botswana solely responsible for fighting for freedom of expression and the freedom of the media in the country. It was pointed out that civil society previously lobbied together on issues with notable success - although this was not done consistently. For example, Emang Basadi spearheaded the lobby against the Citizenship Act and MISA led the one against the Mass Media Bill, which led to its blockage. Even then, it was agreed that Botswana’s civil society organizations should do more to mobilize and lobby together for various causes or better coordinate their efforts. There was a strong feeling that civil society organizations in the country have become more of ‘government NGOs’ since most of them are now funded by the Botswana government. This is a new phenomenon, which started in earnest in 1994 and after the country was declared a middle-income country and NGO- funders left the country in large numbers. It was concluded that public funding should not be synonymous with government funding and that civil society is entitled to public funding like everyone else and has every right to expect it from the government. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 3, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3, 2 2.4 Overall score for sector 1: Sector 2: The media landscape is characterised by diversity, independence and sustainability. 2.1 A wide range of sources of information (print, broadcasting, Internet) is available and affordable to citizens. ANALYSIS: The market appears to be saturated with news publications but there are issues of accessibility – in the form of better distribution, the (English) language used in most newspapers and affordability - that are presenting a challenge. The country has a high literacy rate (84%) but a sparsely distributed population. There is only one Tswana paper on the market. The reason given was that even Tswana speakers have difficulties reading their own language, because they have been brought up in English. For example, if questionnaires are offered in both languages, people generally choose the English version. So This Is Democracy? 2005 -193- Media Institute of Southern Africa