SECTOR 4 journalists plug their products and their services on air or write glowing stories about the company. One mobile phone company is always handing out Blackberry smart-phones as gifts, while editors are given the latest cellphones as a Christmas gift. Very few journalists refuse these gifts. The tourism sector tends to nurture relationships only with the journalists who write favourable articles, and terminates relationships with those who write critical articles about sponsored trips. “I think our problem is that we allow our reporters to build a relationship with different companies so it’s the same person writing about one company and who has access to the CEO all the time. So I think the important thing is that we need to centralise these invites so they come to the editor.” The lack of policy on freebies and favours has resulted in journalists behaving unethically and unprofessionally because they are unaware they are crossing the line. Entertainment journalists who are offered free tickets to shows find it difficult to write critical reviews. For this reason, a particular media house decided that it would purchase tickets to events itself. During the recently held elections, it became clear that certain journalists had taken partisan positions. “There were journalists whose line of writing you could follow and they were pushing certain political parties. I don’t know whether it was an issue that they are members of those political parties or that they sympathise with those political parties, or they got something,” pointed out one panellist. “It did happen. They were getting paid by the papers and by the ruling party, either to keep quiet or to write negative stuff about the opposition or to write positive stories. As of this year there were 8 journalists paid by the ruling party,” confirmed another panellist. “While it does fit into the category of corruption,” a panellist pointed out that: “difficulties in drawing the line occur when the role of publisher and editor become absorbed into one. You have to think about the business and sometimes you have to think of the journalists. I’ve seen some cases where the publisher uses the power of the publication to push business agendas, or even political agendas.” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Botswana 2014 57