SECTOR 2 ‘We were suppressing our views on these issues, especially in public, but in the private space people talk about ethnicity and make judgements based on it.’ In reality, there exists stigma and suppression, especially with regard to the Basarwa (Bushmen) minority group. ‘Government thinks that people working among [the] Basarwa for their advancement are agitators attempting to upset a peaceful status quo.’ Some ethnic tribes ‘are fighting for greater acknowledgement and use of their language and there are even organisations that speak to that.’ Issues of different ethnic groups are reported on, yet it is questionable whether the media adequately represents ethnic voices and content. It seems that ‘these issues are like politics...you make comments that do not affect you commercially,’ but if such a story might have a negative financial ramification, ie loss of commercial revenue due to divergence from popular opinion or upsetting advertising norms, it will not be published. ‘In the past,’ a journalist remembers, ‘media extensively covered court cases around the removal of the Basarwa from their ancestral lands. But once the cases came to an end, we stopped reporting.’ There lies the media’s problem in that ‘we “break” the story but follow-up engagement is low, or non-existent, leading to under-representation of several groups.’ Religion With a 75% Christian majority, other religious groups are under-represented and diversity is not accepted. During Botswana’s 50th Independence Day celebrations, only Christians were allowed to lead prayers at the behest of the church. The media reported on the Christian churches leading the proceedings but omitted any coverage of the politics on the exclusion of other faiths during the celebration. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) ‘In Botswana culturally, the LGBTI community is not entirely accepted. The media used to be very hard on the community.’ A panellist argues that ‘the media has in recent years taken the lead in giving space for debate around LGBTI issues.’ which may have contributed for slightly more openness within society. Linguistic There is little linguistic diversity. All print media is exclusively in English; except the state-owned Daily News which also publishes part of its content in Setswana. There is limited diversity of languages on private radio stations; ‘we couldn’t air jingles on health-related issues in other languages except for English and Setswana, because English is the official language and Setswana the national language.’ These limitations prevent effective communication with other 32 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER BOTSWANA 2018