Botswana 3.3 The body regulates broadcasting in the public interest and ensures fairness and diversity of views broadly representing society at large. ANALYSIS: With the new broadcasting policy not in place, the interests of the state continue to take precedence over those of the public, and government still has a strong political and economic grip on the state media – particularly the broadcast media. Although regulations for licensing broadcasters were issued in October 2004, the NBB’s work is hampered by the absence of a broadcasting policy. The Board, however, is free to implement these regulations regardless and issue licences. So far, it has granted licences to Radio Botswana and two commercial operators (GBC and MultiChoice). Licences for national private radio stations are to be awarded in the very near future. One of the licence conditions for Radio Botswana is that it should have an independent board. However, the station was not given any time frame within which to transform into a public broadcaster, and the duration of the licence is ten years. SCORING: Individual scores: 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2 Average score: 2.1 30 (2005 = 1.3) African Media Barometer - Botswana 2007