SECTOR 4 4.3 Salary levels and general working conditions, including safety, for journalists and other media practitioners are adequate. For a long time, the salaries and benefits of journalists were tagged against those being paid out by the Guardian - which was the largest and best paying media house at the time. This has since changed and salaries vary from one media house to another. Journalism in Botswana is a badly paid profession with very few benefits and security. Government media houses tend to pay better salaries, which is difficult for media houses in the private sector to compete with. “Entry level pay is about, or less than 7000 Pula (US$ 700,-), for someone who comes out of university. Government hires your first-time writer, at Daily News, at that amount. We are in the private sector. There is no way we can compete with those salaries.” There is a great deal more exploitation of journalists in the broadcasting sector. “Having managed different kinds of media, both a radio station and print, the differences are glaring. Basically the broadcasters exploit journalists but it’s a lot better in the newspapers. The entry level of 7000 (US$ 700,-) is twice what you get on entry-level at a radio station.” A few of the larger print media houses have a human resources department that deals with staff management, but this has not improved the situation for media practitioners. “So one day by mistake we’re running through the salary files and it turns out the Human Resources manager was paid higher than the editor, and by a substantial amount.” Many experienced and senior journalists have left the profession because they have been offered better financial packages in the corporate sector. “When you reach 5 years you say - you know what, I can go to Barclays and triple my salary, why can’t I just go there? Forget the passion, you have kids to feed.” Journalists work irregular hours and are continuously on the job but are not paid overtime. Some companies are willing to pay medical insurance while others are not. “Last week I had one of my cameramen collapse. So I asked: ‘What can we do about it?’ They said: ‘we can’t do anything.’” The cameraman is a full-time longterm employee of a broadcasting organisation. 54 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Botswana 2014