MISA executive director preaches media freedom

The newly appointed Media Institute of Southern Africa-Botswana (MISA) Executive director Buyani Zongwani has said the public and government in Botswana need to be given valuable awareness on the role of media in a democracy.

 Zongwani took over from Phenyo Butale beginning of this month told this publication in an interview that one of the key issues he will deal with during his three years term is to raise awareness. “Media also has responsibility of educating people on its role to avoid being perceived as a public and government’s enemy.” 

 He said he supported his predecessors in trying to advocate for the Freedom of Information Bill that was rejected in parliament last year. Zongwane noted that the Bill was vital in not making it easy for media to access public information but also to protect them. 

 The new director has also observed that media freedom is often trampled upon due to the monopoly of media ownership. “The chain of supply is quite a monopoly; from ownership of media houses, printers and distribution. We have instances where printers wanted to dictate what a newspaper could and could not print in editorial content.”

 Zongwani also said he intends to review strategies of looking for donors for MISA Botswana and hinted Mo Ibrahim foundation as one that he would like to approach as a donor.