SECTOR 1 Defence Forces (BDF) to renovate his private residence were blocked by security agents when they attempted to visit the home and warned that they would be shot if they would ever dare to return. In another incident, the hotel room of Al Jazeera journalists covering a story in Botswana was broken into and their materials stolen the night before their departure, preventing them from publishing the story. The local ‘fixer’ the Al Jazeera reporters had hired was ‘known to be DISS.’ Freedom of Expression in a Partisan Environment Besides of the climate of fear ‘partisan politics have hogged that [freedom of expression] space.’ The media tend to report ‘on topics in a partisan way.’ Media practitioners dealing with a precarious job market make choices between their professional ethics or ‘being hungry’, and therefore ‘fear to express themselves in a manner that a journalist should’ so as not to jeopardise their private business endeavours and access to government tenders. ‘Newsrooms are so politicised’ with media houses ‘aligning themselves to specific political parties.’ ‘An editor was flushed out as a DISS officer’ by another paper, explained a print editor; even in their ‘own newsroom [they] cannot operate freely.’ Generally, in the public space, the ‘discourse is divided’ along party lines. The lack of open support for a party was automatically seen as opposing the party. Citizens went as far as to refrain from supporting a movement for improved service delivery if such a campaign was organised by the ‘wrong’ party. Freedom of Expression Exercised Despite all of this, some people appeared confident enough to share information on air and online, which most would be afraid to share. Journalists/presenters who do so are however, ‘often not taken seriously.’ Generally, citizens feel freer to express themselves via social media platforms ‘but they are watched.’ 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: ✓✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓✓ ✓ 2.0 (2005 = 1.9; 2007 = 1.9; 2009 = 1.3; 2011 =1.8; 2014 = 2.6) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER BOTSWANA 2018 11