SECTOR 1 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 3.7 (2005 = 2.6; 2007 = 2.3; 2009 = 1.9; 2011 = 2.7) 1.2 The right to freedom of expression is practised and citizens, including journalists, are asserting their rights without fear. In the last two years there have been numerous confrontational incidents involving the members of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) and the public. “I don’t think people feel free to express themselves due to fear. Journalists have been followed and their phones have been bugged.” “There were rumours that the Head of Directorate of Intelligence and Security was living in fear, due to splits within the organisation and that his house had been broken into. We were trying to confirm whether all this was true or not and so the head of DIS was discussing the story with our journalists at 10am one day. At 2pm there was a break-in at our offices and laptops were taken. I immediately relayed this information to our lawyer and at 7pm [the same day] all of his 7 laptops were taken. It looked as though there were people who knew what we were writing about, as they were able to get the laptops of the people from whom we were trying to confirm this,” related an editor. A member of the public posted a comment on Facebook about a particular topic discussed on a radio show and within 30 minutes, security officers had got hold of him. In desperation he called a radio station that he was a regular listener of and they put him on air. “It was quite dramatic as he called us and went on air complaining that he was being harassed. The police came into the studio when we were done. They made a big issue out of it and instead of trying to clarify it, they made it worse by involving the presenter of the show and myself. We were seen to be improper in our conduct and the fact that we allowed people to express themselves was considered the wrong platform by them.” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Botswana 2014 13