I know it’s a taboo in media circles for a media practitioner to publicly point out the blemishes in the profession. More often, I have realized that while journalists are always quick to point out flaws, rightly so, in other professions, they get all worked up when their profession is put on the spotlight. I am not going to conform to that practice of sweeping own dirt under the carpet. I doubt local media practitioners realize the important role that they play in the society.
Even if they understand their importance, I doubt they take that importance seriously. This past Saturday the world commemorated Press Freedom day. In Botswana, the event was held in Lobatse, just seventy kilometers from Gaborone. The event was so embarrassing.
The low turnout was so shameful. Only a few media practitioners made time to grace the event. Only a few media houses bothered to showcase their products at the event. Not a single media house was mentioned as a sponsor. Only about less than five editors or senior management from various media outlets showed up at the event. Look, there is no freedom that is as important as press freedom. Press freedom is indispensable for development, democracy and good governance.
A free press promotes transparency. As observed by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, journalists are often singled out and persecuted for speaking and writing uncomfortable truths.
Perhaps our local journalists do not see the need to take part in the world press freedom commemorations because no local journalist has been persecuted for speaking or writing uncomfortable truths, yet. What local journalists fail to understand is, while it has not yet happened here, there is no guarantee it will never happen.
Despite the fact that the media here is relatively free when compared to other countries, local journalists must stand up and support this fundamental right, in solidarity with their colleagues in other countries who are already feeling the heat of oppression.
According to statistics in Ban Ki-Moon’s speech on the occasion of the world press freedom day, last year recorded the killing of seventy journalists, many of them caught in the cross-fire of armed hostilities.
Fourteen more have suffered the same fate this year, and we still have seven more months to round up the year. Last year, 211 journalists were being held in prison. Some 456 journalists have been forced into exile since 2008. And since 1992, over 1 000 journalists have been killed which translates to nearly one per week. These are alarming figures.
Behind each statistic aforementioned stands a man or a woman simply going about their lawful business of gathering news. Botswana may not have contributed to those statistics and we will be playing foolhardy to even think we therefore need not rise to the calls for media freedom. Fellow journalists in other countries, including in the southern African region, find themselves being persecuted in their line of duty. We know of cases where authorities arrest journalists, often without a clear reason and in some instances confiscate their equipment. Authorities in Botswana may not yet be arresting and beating up journalists but that doesn’t mean there is media freedom here. While on the surface the country seems to have a relatively free media environment, the opposite is the truth.
Government has over the years refused to pass the Freedom of Information Bill which was going to make the job of media practitioners a lot easier. Instead, the authorities are hell-bent on pushing for the Media Practitioners Act which for all intents and purposes is meant to gag and censor media practitioners. Like I have already mentioned, freedom of the press is integral to the attainment of good governance in any democracy. It is for that reason that I was taken aback by the seemingly lack of interest on the commemoration of world press freedom day by local media practitioners.
It was embarrassing to have invited guest speakers deliver their messages to a handful of journalists when this country is littered with so many media houses with so many journalists. How do we as media practitioners expect outsiders to advocate for our freedom when we don’t show any interest on events that seek to promote such advocacy? It’s a shame that while we have more than 15 media organizations, only two showcased their products at the event.
It would appear this time around, media organizations left everything to MISA and didn’t bother to play any role. I am not privy to the relationship between MISA and local media organizations but I must point out that they seriously need to work together if at all they are currently not. Local journalists must actively defend and advocate for press freedom and show solidarity with their foreign colleagues because it might be Tanzania’s New Habari Corporation Editor, Absalom Kibanda who was brutally beaten and part of his finger hacked off but this doesn’t mean the same fate may never befall Botswana’s journalists.
I hope local media practitioners will take this not as an attack but a reminder of how important their role is in a democracy, especially one like Botswana which currently stands on shaky ground. Remember Nelson Mandela once said “A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy”. Let’s fight for this lifeblood. It is the only way to show our patriotism.
