The Department of Information Services under the Ministry for Presidential Affairs Governance and Public Administration was established in April 2004. It consists of two divisions, the Botswana Press Agency (BOPA) and the Publications unit. BOPA was launched in 1981 as a response to the demand for the establishment of news agencies by African governments to facilitate the flow of information. The Publications division is tasked with running the Daily News daily and Kutlwano magazine.
Media assets
News agency: Botswana Press Agency (BOPA)
Print media: Daily News, Kutlwano
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
The Department of Information is a division belonging to the Ministry for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration. All appointments at the Department of Information are made by the government, in line with the public service act.
Source of funding and budget
According to the latest budget data available from the Ministry for Presidential Affairs Governance and Public Administration, the Department of Information Services received a state subsidy worth BWP 64.9m (US$ 5.6m) for the year 2018. That represented nearly 90% of the budget that covered the operations of the media outlets run by the Department of Information Services. These media also sell ads to complement their income, but revenue from commercial ad sales accounts for a small part of the yearly budget of these media. In the fiscal year ending March 2020, the Department of Information Services received a state subsidy of BWP 73.4m (US$ 6.1m), according to the latest report from the government.
Editorial independence
The Department of Information implements its editorial policies “in accordance with the mandate bestowed on the department by the government.” The division is charged with promoting policies of the government. Independent assessments show that the media operated by the Department of Information (like all state media in Botswana) are editorially controlled by the government.
The government of Botswana controls the content of nearly all radio and television broadcasts through the Botswana Press Agency (BOPA), which produces content for the Daily News newspaper, Radio Botswana and Botswana Television (BTV).
No domestic statute establishing the editorial independence of the Department of Information has been identified. The department abides by government regulations and is not regulated by the official broadcasting regulator that licenses other players.
No independent oversight mechanism to assess the editorial independence of the media run by the Department of Broadcasting has been identified either. Botswana has an Ombudsman in charge of investigating complaints of injustice or maladministration in Botswana. The office of the Ombudsman sometimes assesses the performance of the state media.
September 2023