Botswana
Sector 4:
4.1

The media practice high levels of professional
standards.

The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards
which are enforced by self- regulatory bodies.

ANALYSIS:
The Press Council of Botswana (PCB), which started its work in November 2004, is active and has experienced a very good response
and support from the public in its first year of operation. It still
needs to educate people more on its work, operations and structure
– something it has not been able to do in a sustained manner due to
scarce resources.
There have been some high profile cases, one of them involving a
Member of Parliament. The case went through all the stages of the
PCB process until it was settled. In all there were 12 cases in 2005,
all of them resolved by the PCB, with five of them adjudicated, four
mediated and three withdrawn. In 2006, there were fewer cases:
four of them adjudicated, one withdrawn and one still pending.
The NBB, for its part, has dealt with complaints from individuals and
its own staff about unacceptable remarks on the radio and taken up
the issue with the concerned station. The radio station issued an
apology as a result.
There seems to be little cooperation or coordination between the
NBB and PCB – either because the PCB fails to engage the broadcasting regulatory body enough, or because NBB does not seem to
recognise the PCB as a partner. For example, there was a case that
involved possible racist broadcasting which could not be adjudicated properly. The NBB did not help in acquiring the tape in question
although this is well within its purview. The radio station concerned
claimed system breakdowns or power outages and was finally let off
African Media Barometer - Botswana 2007

37

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