Botswana
2.8

Media diversity is promoted through adequate competition
regulation/legislation.

ANALYSIS:
There is no regulation or competition board at present. The government intends to come up with a competition policy but debate
over this issue is not transparent enough. The draft is considered
confidential at the moment but expected to be widely distributed
eventually. It deals with competition generally rather than being
sector-specific.
SCORES:
Individual scores:

1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1

Average score:

1.2

2.9

Government promotes a political and economic environment which allows a diverse media landscape.

ANALYSIS:
Government competes with the private sector for advertising in
print and broadcasting media and does not think the views of its
political opponents are important. No incentives are being given to
private media and media are even taxed. More promotion might occur in the ICT sector, where government has taken a lot of interest.
P15 million was provided to bail out the construction industry but
the media has never been considered for government assistance of
any type.

African Media Barometer - Botswana 2005

17

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