SECTOR 4 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: 2.6 (2005 = n/a; 2007 = n/a; 2009 = 3.6; 2011 = 3.6) 4.6 Journalists and editors do not practise self-censorship in in the private broadcasting and print media. The line between editorial policy and advertising considerations becomes blurred when media organisations pitch for advertising. Commercial pressure has forced journalists and media houses to spike a number of stories. The marketing departments of some media houses will ask journalists and editors to “lay off” a particular organisation they might be doing a story on, because they are still sealing an advertising deal. Owners of small publications who are also the editors often find themselves in a quandary. “This is the contradiction I was talking about...when your role as a publisher and an editor are morphed into one - you are compromised.” “I was negotiating a business deal as the editor of the paper and then my journalists came to me with sparkly eyes. They had something they wanted to work on. I went and spent the night thinking about it – it was not good. The next morning, I called them and said: ‘comrades I’m sorry about this’ and I stopped them working on the story. I feel like a sell-out.” Since top editorial positions are usually appointed by the board of the organisation, board members feel an editor is obligated to them, and has to abide by their decisions instead of using his or her own editorial discretion. “When I was hired, I was told: ‘look you are hired by the board’. You then sit with the board and they will say, ‘You are answerable to us’. Things changed later when they started understanding what the job was about.” 58 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Botswana 2014