SECTOR 4 sensational news. If you ask journalists “why is it that we don’t see other stuff?”, they will likely reply “If it [the story] is not juicy, we won’t bother with it.”’ For example, ‘the work of the church is not being seen often; when the church shares a story with the media it [the story] doesn’t make it.’ From a more holistic point of view, ‘we don’t have a coherent national agenda ‘that society at large is striving towards,’ concludes a journalist. ‘Nowadays, the main aim is “to create jobs”; and now everyone is going to work, that’s it. People look out for [them] selves only and there is no social responsibility. We are not adding any value to anything except our own lives, and this attitude, unfortunately, is also common among the media fraternity.’ 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 = 2.9; 2007 = 2.1; 2009 = 2.8; 2011 = 3.3; 2014 = 4.0) 4.2 The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards, which are enforced by independent/nonstatutory bodies that deal with complaints from the public. The establishment of the Press Council of Botswana (PCB) and its code of ethics was ‘an attempt to deal with issues of professional and ethical standards.’ The body, however, collapsed, and with it the progress on benchmark-setting of professional standards. The BPC theoretically still exists but is ‘completely inactive.’ The media in Botswana have developed a code of ethics, but the majority of media practitioners seem to be unaware of its existence. ‘At one time a former minister took it [the code of ethics] to the government media [for them to] abide by it.’ The Botswana Editor’s Forum (BEF) also exists in theory and usually does not function effectively. The institutional capacity to drive the process of professional standard setting is therefore lacking. An additional problem is the lack of professional unity and coordination among the media fraternity in Botswana. 50 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER BOTSWANA 2018