The Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mokgweetsi Masisi, says he is not aware of allegations that some ministers have the tendency of editing news at Botswana Television.
 The Minister answered in the affirmative when the Member of Parliament for Gaborone Central, Dumelang Saleshando, asked him if the need to ensure balanced reporting was one of the guiding principles of the government editorial policy.
┬áHaving said that, the Minister said the conduct, behavior and operations of the state media and officers employed there are subject to “the parameters of media work as set by government”.
 There have been growing protestations that the government media feeds the public one-sided stories of the government even in situations where alternative views exist over the same issues.
┬á“Information and Broadcasting Services are government owned and shall continue to operate within the parameters for media as set by the government from time to time,” Masisi told Parliament on Monday, responding to a question by the MP for Shoshong, Philip Makgalemele.
 The MP had wanted the Minister to state the editorial policy of various media houses in his ministry with regards to editing and approval of news to be aired, the positions of senior officers involved in the news approval process and whether there are any officers outside the government media houses who either edit or authorize news to be heard. 
“The news approval process is not necessarily a matter of rank or title of officers in government media houses, but rather of knowledge, competency and journalistic outlook of editors in the context of the mandate of government media. This is the setup at government media houses,” Masisi told parliament.
 The minister said officers employed at Information and Broadcasting are civil servants who, like all other public officers, work under the supervision and guidance of accounting officers who have oversight authority over the services.
Permanent Secretaries are accounting officers at government ministries.
