Reporters Without Borders Annual Report 2002 - Botswana
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 3 May 2002 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Reporters Without Borders Annual Report 2002 - Botswana, 3 May 2002, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/487c5220c.html [accessed 23 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
The government's hold over the public media was revealed after the resignation of a television news editor. The state tries to use advertising to strangle independent newspapers economically.
In April 2001 journalists with the national television channel BTV protested against their management's orders not to broadcast a documentary on Mariette Bosch, a South African sentenced to death for murder and executed in Botswana a few weeks earlier. The journalists described this decision as "state interference in the independence of editorial staff". The channel's news editor said he had received orders from "higher authority" "not to broadcast the unacceptable report". On 1 May he resigned, with the following words: "The journalists of the channel and I have often been harassed by the government administration. This made the smooth functioning of the channel's news service impossible".
On 1 May the Botswana Guardian and the Midweek Sun published a letter from the state secretary for communication, asking state and para-state companies not to advertise in these two local newspapers. On 23 May the police said they would no longer collaborate with journalists from the two titles. According to the managing editors of the Botswana Guardian and Midweek Sun, the state is the main advertiser in the country and this measure could have resulted in their closure. In mid-June the two publications sued the government and in September the Lobatse county court in south-east Botswana asked the government to suspend its advertising boycott.
