A government spokesperson has claimed ignorance of any attempt to weaponize the public media towards engineer public approval or manufacturing consent for the Constitutional Court, although Mass Media Complex reporters insist that there is coordinated political messaging across all public media platforms, on the Constitutional Court and healthcare crisis debates.
The Ministry stated this week that, it ‘respects the independence of media institutions and does not issue directives that undermine these constitutional principles..
No directive has been issued to suspend phone-in programmes on Radio Botswana. Decisions relating to programme formats and scheduling are managed internally by the broadcaster in accordance with its operational and editorial guidelines.’
The ministry was responding to claims from public media reporters that government has set out to regiment the public media, and for the whole of last week, call-in segments of all RB1 and RB2 programmes were suspended in a bid to control the public debate on the controversial Constitutional Court and national drug shortage.
The journalists stated that RB 1 broadcaster Letumile Lets Montsosa was removed from the Masa -a-sele morning programme and later reinstated, after letting slip that there are official instructions to ‘manage’ the callers. Montsosa’s aborted re-deployment is reported to be part of a bigger plan to co – opt the Mass Media Complex newsrooms. Government was however forced to climbdown on its plans following public backlash.
Following the incident, all call-in segment of Radio Botswana programmes were suspended for the whole of last week. The reporters claimed that, even the selection of guests invited to discuss both the Constitutional Court and drug shortages has been tightly controlled to stack the card in favour of the Constitutional Court.
Responding Sunday Standard queries, the Ministry of State, Defence and Security said it is not aware of any such instructions having been issued. ‘Editorial content and programming decisions within government media institutions fall under the operational mandate of the Department of Broadcasting Services and established editorial structures.’
The Ministry also insisted that ‘No directive has been issued to suspend phone-in programmes on Radio Botswana. Decisions relating to programme formats and scheduling are managed internally by the broadcaster in accordance with its operational and editorial guidelines.’
The government spokesperson further stated that, the Ministry ‘does not manage or oversee the selection of guests for programmes aired on state media platforms,’ adding that ‘Guest selection is an editorial function undertaken by programme producers in line with established broadcasting standards and principles of balanced reporting.’ The government official was responding to journalist reports that guest selection for RB1, RB2 and Btv programmes are not editorial decisions, but part of government’s play to saturate the public media information space with its narrative.
The Ministry further denied reports that BTv content on President Duma Boko’s tour of government hospitals is not generated by journalists, but by government enclave boosters who have been deployed to come up with massaged positive messages.
It has emerged that (Btv) reporters are not assigned to cover President Duma Boko’s hospital tours. Instead, the channel given ready-to-air footage choreographed by government officials limiting on-the-ground reporting.
Government journalists spoke of coordinated state-driven efforts to control information, by prioritizing government enclave narrative over the watchdog function of the public media. President Boko and Health Minister Stephen Modise are currently touring several hospitals following the release of a damning Ombudsman report that highlighted serious deficiencies in healthcare delivery and drug procurement.
Government ministers have also been dispatched to lead public consultations on the proposed Constitutional Court, an initiative that has stirred public debate. Some citizens have expressed strong opposition to the perceived rush to establish the court, arguing that the government should first prioritise securing essential medications for public hospitals.
The government spokesperson argued that BTV reporters have not been barred from independently covering presidential activities.
‘Where pooled or shared footage is utilised, this is generally for logistical or coordination purposes and does not preclude independent reporting by media practitioners.’