Botswana 2.9 Government promotes a political and economic environment which allows a diverse media landscape. ANALYSIS: No incentives are being given to private media and media enterprises are even taxed. The playing field between government and private media is not level – not just because the state media rely on tax-payers money and do not have to worry about many operational and commercial challenges which affect the private media. Government also competes with the private sector for advertising in print and broadcasting media. Due to its adoption of cost-recovery initiatives, this competition for ad spend has become even fiercer. The government broadcasting media have the largest reach but charge lower advertising rates than the commercial broadcasters. The Daily News with an estimated print-run between 60 and 70.000 is distributed for free and also charges lower rates than the private media, which means that it is undercutting their advertising market. This is exacerbated by the fact that the Daily News does not collect advertising revenue efficiently. There has been an attempt to increase collection by demanding payment upfront. This has affected smaller advertising agencies in particular who do not have a large enough revenue base to afford this kind of payment. As a result more work has moved to larger advertising agencies, closing out the up-and-coming new ones. The private media could – ironically – benefit from government’s demand for payment upfront. They also have a competitive edge over the state-controlled media which lack credibility. The new national private radio stations expected to be licensed soon will probably increase competition for the commercialized governAfrican Media Barometer - Botswana 2007 23