Botswana ous. There is hardly any litigation between citizens over freedom of expression issues (e.g. defamation) but numerous lawsuits against the media in this regard have been brought before the courts. Although their number has declined significantly in recent years, demands for damages to be paid have increased steeply, due to the tendency of the courts to award high amounts where the matter involves prominent people after a precedent was set in a case brought by a High Court judge. Some people are just taking their chances as they know that they can win on legal technicalities. Often cases are withdrawn after putting the media through a lot of unnecessary legal expenses. Meanwhile, most publications are becoming increasingly proactive by counter suing. Too many lawsuits against the media are due to the carelessness of editors and absence of monitoring tools and internal controls. Most newspaper houses do not pursue cases to the end but instead readily settle out of court even when they have a strong case. The media should stand by their stories more – provided they are convinced of the correctness of these stories. Some are being encouraged to do that by their media lawyers. There are still not enough good test cases for the media law to be better defined and developed in the country. Lawyers generally should apply their minds more thoroughly to the role of the media in a democracy and thus help to campaign for media freedom by vigorously fighting against litigation levied against the media. More media scholars should also assist the media in their cause. It is always difficult to get enough information from the media about the nature and the number of cases they are facing at any one time. Given its mandate, though, MISA Botswana should take a stronger 6 African Media Barometer - Botswana 2007