Botswana is considered an exemplary democracy in Africa. It is imperative to
assess how an enviable democracy could flourish when the most widely
available mass media was not independent. The fact is, despite the fact that
media has been at the heart of development in Botswana, it has often been
ignored in local academic and popular discussions about democracy and
governance. A 1994 seminar on the media in a democracy organized by the
Mmegi Publishing Trust (Leepile, 1994), was one of the very few forums where
the role of the media in Botswana was given any attention. Even then, most the
presentations were not substantive, mainly providing basic information about
media institutions in Botswana and laws that protect and threaten freedom of the
media. Botswana's contemporary state - media nexus can only be understood
within the context of a long history of media dependence and domination by
neighbouring South Africa (Zaffiro, 1991) assisted by British colonisation. To
appreciate the challenges of cultural production at Botswana Television (BTV)
required a study of the problematic encounter between the quest for creative and
professional freedom within BTV on the one hand,·and the authoritarian gaze of
state power on the other hand. BTV operated under an ill-defined broadcasting
model, of a state bureaucratic arm, attempting to fulfil the ethos of public service
broadcasting. Through the lens of the Newsroom, in-house productions,
commissioning and procurement of foreign and local content, the study shows
the subtle ways in which state ownership of the media compromises freedom of
expression and freedom of information in Botswana. Yet, Botswana continued to
enjoy that status ofAfrica's exemplar of democracy. Good governance indicators
consistently gave media in Botswana cursory attention, thereby reinforcing state
authoritarianism in Botswana. With a media dominated by state power, Botswana
still emerged as exemplary. This complicated the quest for the ideal
communication environment towards democratization in the Third World,
particularly in a globalizing context. In situations such as that ofBotswana, where
the institutions that should protect the media from government control are either
absent or weak, universal ideals on media freedom are often not enough. Media
practitioners are more likely to find support in the local discourses, repertoires
and cultures that call upon all, regardless of status, to tolerate opposition. A local
. tradition of the kgotla in particular, often heralded as Botswana's indigenous form
of democracy, is placed in this chapter, at the heart of much of the freedom,
_ limited as it may be, that BTV enjoyed.