BTV

Botswana Project
2014










BACKGROUND
Botswana TV is the national broadcaster of the Southern African country of Botswana.
Botswana's first national television service started in 2000 following a 1997 government decision.
The station delivers eight hours of local and international programmes daily on weekdays and 10
hours of programming on weekends. Since it was launched on 31 July 2000, BTV has
established itself at the centre of Batswana's viewing habits.
The station has committed itself to provide at least 60% local content to meet the diverse needs
ofTswana. According to its guiding principles, the station is upbeat and forward looking, and
seeks to align its strategy with the national vision, Vision 2016. It recognizes that the majority of
Tswana are young people, and that Botswana has diverse cultural and language groups. It also
recognizes that Botswana is part of an integrated global village and has to compete effectively.
Technological, BTV is the first station in Africa and the second in the world after ITN (UK-
basedIndependent Television News) to fully utilise digital technology. It signal is carried on a
PAS 7satellite with a significant footprint, which covers the whole country, and most of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The station is fully Serial Digital
Video, 4:3 and 16:9 switchable, but with the flexibility of analogue with dual language stereo
capabilities.
The station uses the Quantel Inspiration System for processing and transmission with the news
processing software ENPS (Electronic News Production System) in the newsroom. Its server-
based technology gives the news the speed and flexibility sought by journalists and news editors.
To cover the wide area of the country, two satellite News Gathering (SNG) teams are based in
the North and North-West - Francistown andMaun respectively. Their area of responsibility
stretches from Palapye/Serowe to the border with Zimbabwe and Zambia. The Maun team also
covers Ghanzi the extreme West.
The station already provides a great outlet for advertisers because of its coverage. The client
base has been gradually increasing since launch. With SADC secretariat based in Gaborone,
BTV is expected to play a significant role in driving Botswana's vision of becoming the financial
services centre for the region and attracting investors to Botswana. As it grows, the station
expects to play a crucial role in the development of the television industry in Botswana.









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Our partners


Botswana, Gaborone, 7 March 2011:United Nations Childrens Fund Representative in
Botswana, Dr. DoreenMulenga, recently visited civil society partners providing support to
children in Maun. These included Bana Ba LetsatsiSunshine Children
(BBL), Motse WaTsholofelo (MWT) as well Women Against Rape (WAR).
The visit was intended to familiariseherself with the situation of children cared for at the
three centres, the progress that the centres have made and the challenges they face.

Bana Ba Letsatsi Sunshine Children
BBL was established in 2004 and currently supports over 250 vulnerable, at-risk and
orphaned children and youths. In a discussion with Dr Mulenga, BBL coordinator Fiona
Hatton explained that she and her colleagues work round the clock to keep children in Maun
off the streets and away from negative influences by empowering them through education
and support.
The children are identified by BBL Counsellors with the help of social workers. They seek
consent of parents or guardians before taking a child on board.
Our day at BBL starts with picking up children from their bases to the centre for a bath and
breakfast and then dropping some at school. When school is out we pick them up again for
lunch and some afternoon activities which are usually arts and culture exercises and
horticulture shared Hatton.
Hatton also explained that they also provide children with counselling and good grooming.
Dr Mulenga asked what the challenges of BBL are and if any orphan or vulnerable child was
ever left behind when identifying children, Transport and accessibility of the children. We
only have one hired minibus which fails to reach, pick and drop every child, responded
Hatton.
Finance ultimately becomes the bigger constraint in achieving the goals of BBL. According
to Hatton, sometimes the meals are cut or compromised nutritionally due to lack of funds to
maintain proper feeding for children.
Moreover, other constraints that face BLL include some parents or guardians who do not
show interest in the care for their children while at the centre. HIV/AIDS related
complications, rape and the lack of especially dedicated nurse or doctor at the centre results
in delayed and often inadequate medical help from government health facilities are other
factors that make our job here painful, lamented Hatton.
However, Hatton face lit when she spoke about 25 young men and women who used to
attend BBL who are now old enough are working at Safari companies and some homes.

Motse wa Tsholofelo
MWT is a pre-school centre for orphans and vulnerable children that is run by Botswana
Christian AIDS Intervention Programme (BOCAIP). MWT was founded in 2000 and
currently has 52 children who are picked and dropped from their homes every morning and
afternoon.
They transport children with a minibus that was donated by Gaborone Rotary Club few years
ago. Some of the challenges that the centre faces includes lack of enough funding to
provide proper meals and care for children.
Teacher Tsalano Motlhasedi shared that despite the constraints they face on a daily basis
they still manage to graduate children to primary school. When we started in 2000 we
produced 9 graduates and last year we produced 26.

Women Against Rape
Women Against Rape is a human rights organisation that supports abused women and
children. The Development Officer of WAR, MphoMahopolo, cited donor dependency,
human resource shortage, clashes of culture and project implementation as some of the
constraints that limit their work.



BTV Brand Analysis
UNICEF played a convener in order to ensure that local broadcasters took part in
the commemoration of the ICDB, and continue to deliver good quality programming for, with
and by children year round. The envisaged outcome of this advocacy process was two
pronged:
1. That children would be given space on the mainstream media channels, and on an on-
going basis, to exercise their right to freely express their views on issues that affect them;
2. And that children be afforded opportunities to meaningfully participate in the
actual production and presentation of these childrensprogrammes.

The Invitation
To kick start the mobilisation of local broadcast media houses for ICDB 2011, UNICEF
Botswana invited representatives of all local radio and TV broadcasters to a special meeting
where they were briefed on ICDB, its objectives and goals, what they could do as
broadcasters, as well as to invite them all to take part in the 2011 ICDB.

The Response
Botswana Television (Btv), Radio Botswana (RB), Yarona FM and GabzFM are the four
broadcast media houses who sent representatives to the ICDB meetings.

Radio Botswana
Radio Botswana, a state owned national radio station that broadcasts mainly in Setswana
(local vernacular), successfully put together special ICDB programming that comprised the
following:
1 hour of childrens voices freely expressing themselves on Boys areGirls are theme;
these children were recorded from five (5) different remote locations across four (4) different
districts (Southern District,Kweneng District, Kgatleng District and Central.
During the ICDB on March 6, 2011, the station ran a 2hour specialprogramme featuring
segments of childrens voices described above, live childrens call in, and a short interview
where the child presenter interviewed the UNICEF Communication Officer on ICDB.
Theprogramme was led by two child presenters and three (3) child studio guests.

UNICEF - supported the programme with branded ICDB T-shirts, lunch money for
officials recording childrens voices from districts, and provision of refreshments for children
and supervising presenters during the ICDB special programme.

BTV
Botswana Television, a state owned national television station, decried shortage of
equipment and personnel but were able to successfully put together special ICDB
programming that comprised the
following:

A series of puppetry ICDB spots which were run on the TV station for about two
(2) weeks to create awareness and promote ICDB.

A 30 minutes special programme showcasing children in the media was run on
March 6, 2011 as the stations contribution to the ICDB 2011 commemoration.
UNICEF supported these commendable efforts with branded ICDB T-shirts,
resource person to facilitate the ICDB special programme(Communication Officer played the
role of a radio presenter).


Gabz FM
Gabz FM is a private commercial radio station that responded to the UNICEF call to join the
ICDB commemoration with candid enthusiasm.
The Gabz FM 2011 special ICDB programming entailed:

Running of PSAs inviting parents of interested children to bring their children for
auditions; through these auditions the station selected five children to present the
stations 2011 ICDB special programming on March 6th, 2011.
The selected children were crash trained/coached on radio presenting prior to
going live on
March 6th.
On March 6, 2011 the Gabz FM had these children presenters jointly present the
stations special ICDB programme from about 0800hrs to 1530hrs that included
childrens call in segments, professional presenter talks, music, and an interview of
the UNICEF Communication Officer on ICDB.

UNICEF supported Gabz FM ICDB programming with BWP 6, 000.00, which was
a negotiated 50% cost sharing contribution, branded ICDB T-shirts, and provision of
refreshments for children presenters during the ICDB special programming.
The ICDB special programming at Gabz FM went so well that the station is considering
making it a monthly feature i.e. to have the ICDB child presenters research topics of their
choice and come back to the station for a once a day full day interactive programming that
would include interviews, SMS and call-ins.







BWgovernment
March 22, 2013
BTV CHANNEL MIGRATION
Botswana Television is moving to a new channel frequency - this move only affects BTV
viewers with Free-to-Air decoders. The move enables BTV to be viewed throughout most of
the African region, and is also in preparation for future satellite services. The new BTV
channel is now on frequency 12,657 MegaHertz and replaces the existing channel on
frequency 11,625 MegaHertz. The existing channel will be switched off by 14th April 2013.
Free-to-Air decoders require the following parameters to receive the new BTV channel.
Frequency>>>>>>>12,657 MegaHertz
Polarization>>>>>>Vertical
Symbol Rate(KS/s)>>04883

Media of Botswana Brand Marketing

Media in Botswana is controlled by the government.
1 Telephone
2 Television, Radio and Internet
3 Journalism
4 Freedom of Speech
Telephone
In 2003, there were an estimated 76 mainline telephones for every 1,000 people. The same
year, there were approximately 297 mobile phones in use for every 1,000 people.
Television, Radio and Internet
The government controls the content of nearly all radio and television broadcasts through
the Botswana Press Agency (BOPA), which produces the free Daily News newspaper, Radio
Botswana and Radio Botswana 2 (which broadcast nationally to most of the country), and
Botswana Television (BTV). Radio Botswana broadcasts, in English and Setswana, a variety
of news, educational, cultural, and entertainment programs. In 2004, there were two private
radio stations, Yarona FM and Gabz FM, broadcasting in 5 of the countrys 10 largest towns.
The privately owned Gaborone Broadcasting Company (GBC) is the only other television
station in the country; it broadcasts mostly foreign programming.
In 2003, there were an estimated 150 radios and 44 television sets for every 1,000 people.
The same year, there were 40.7 personal computers for every 1,000 people and 35 of every
1,000 people had access to the Internet. There was one secure Internet server in the country
in 2004.
Journalism
There is one daily newspaper in Botswana, the government published Dikgang Tsa
Gompieno (or Daily News, circulation 50,000 in 2002) in both English and Setswana. The
government also publishes, in a bilingual edition, the monthly magazine Kutlwaro (circulation
24,000). In 2002, 4 independent newspapers were publishing on a weekly basis, with a total
circulation of over 50,000. Mmegi, or The Reporter, is published in both Setswana and
English with a weekly circulation of 24,000. The major political parties publish monthly
journals.
Freedom of Speech
The Constitution of Botswana ensures a free press and free speech, and the government is
said to highly respect these rights
BTV Competitors

March 6 - South African sports broadcaster Supersport and Botswana Television
(BTV) have acquired the television rights to broadcast this year's Africa Youth Games
set for Gaborone, Botswana.

The announcement was made by the Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture Shaw Kgathi
during an address at the Botswana Parliament today.

"The Games will be broadcast live in most if not all the African countries, through Botswana
Television and Supersport," he said.

The deal was negotiated by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa
(ANOCA) who owned the television rights of the competition on behalf of the Botswana
Africa Youth Games Organising Committee (BAYGOC).

BTV was said to be the initial broadcaster targeted by the competition organisers, with
Supersport later pursued in order to maximise the Games' reach across various African
nations.

Details of the agreement are still being negotiated however it is expected that each
broadcaster will show live coverage of the event, including the Opening and Closing
Ceremonies.

Tuelo Serufho, chief executive officer, Botswana Africa Youth Games Organizing Committee
told the Botswana Gazette: "We have agreed in principle with both channels."

He added: "They both showed an interest in televising the competition.

"We are at the tail end of our negotiations; we expect to reach an official understanding
soon."

The 2014 African Youth Games are the second edition of the Games following its
inauguration in Rabat, Morocco in 2010.

The Games are due to take place between May 22 and 31 with 2,500 athletes from 54
countries expected to compete in 21 sports.









BTV Brand Perception



BTV Fails The People: An analysis of Botswana Television News
By Richard Rooney Abstract

The Botswana Government, through a number of its departments and the Office of the
President, has since the stations launch in the year 2000 identified a number of aims for
the stations news programming. These include the necessity to inform people about
eventswithin and outside the country, to interpret such events and whenever possible
suggestappropriate approaches to them and to do this by providing balanced, credible
and professionally-tailored programmes containing fair and balanced reporting. It must do
thiswhile also promoting the policies of the Botswana Government.No substantial research
hasbeen undertaken into the programming at BTV (news or otherwise) and this research
paperbegins to fill the gap in our knowledge. It sets out to answer three broad research
questions:(i) what are the self-defined aims of BTV News?; (ii) to what extent are these aims
being met
through the stations news bulletins?; and (iii) how well does BTV fit the model of public
service broadcasting?To answer these questions a survey was made of material published
by BTV and Botswana
Government departments to establish what its aims are. Once the model for news
programming was established a content analysis of 14 news bulletins was undertaken
toascertain (i) the kind of items that were being broadcast and (ii) the sources journalists
usedin their reports.The BTV aims were interrogated by the data from the content analysis
and it was concludedthat most aims were not met.This is followed by a discussion identifying
the main characteristics of public servicebroadcasting (PSB) in which it is concluded that
BTV is not a PSB broadcaster.
Key words:
Botswana television, BTV, television, democracy, public service broadcasting
Introduction
In theory, news on television can give space to people who do not have a place to air
theirviews. But for this to work the reports that appear on television need to be of high
quality,relevant and useful to the audience. Television needs to allow the expression of a full
rangeof opinions and matters of public concern. This paper explores the extent to which
BotswanaTelevision (BTV) allows this to happenBTV is the main television channel in
Botswana and is the only one that broadcasts localnews to the population of the country. It is
owned and controlled by the state (Balule, 2013, pp.86-87).

The Botswana Government, through a number of its departments and the Office of the
President, has since the stations launch in
the year 2000 identified a number of aims for the
stations news programming. These include the necessity to
inform people about eventswithin and outside the country, to interpret such events and
whenever possible suggestappropriate approaches to them and to do this by providing
balanced, credible and professionally-tailored programmes containing fair and balanced
reporting. It must do thiswhile also promoting the policies of the Botswana Government. No
substantial research has been undertaken into the programming at BTV (news orotherwise)
and this research paper begins to fill the gap in our knowledge. It sets out toanswer three
broad research questions: (i) what are the self-defined aims of BTV News?; (ii)to what extent
are these aims
being met through the stations news bulletins
?; and (iii) howwell does BTV fit the model of public service broadcasting?To answer these
questions a survey was made of material published by BTV and BotswanaGovernment
departments to establish what its aims are
. Once the model for news
programming was established a content analysis of 14 news bulletins was undertaken
toascertain (i) the kind of items that were being broadcast and (ii) the sources journalists
usedin their reports.The BTV aims were interrogated by the data from the content analysis
and it was concludedthat most aims were not met.This is followed by a discussion identifying
the main characteristics of public service broadcasting (PSB) in which it is concluded that
BTV is not a PSB broadcaster.
Media landscape in Botswana
BTV is the largest television station in the country, but it does not transmit across the
wholenation, reaching only about 40 percent of the population. BTV is also available via
thesatellite subscription services, DSTV, and can thus theoretically be accessed by viewers
witha satellite dish and DSTV decoder throughout the country (African Media
Barometer, 2011, pp.46-47).The only other free-to-air television station, eBotswana, a
relation of e.tv in South Africa, is broadcast in the capital city, Gaborone and the
surrounding area. eBotswana, previously theGaborone Broadcasting Company, relaunched
in 2010 and now states its Vision is to be the television channel of choice as well as the best
source of entertainment in the country (eBotswana website).
Its schedule is dominated by foreign programming , which it says includes,
Hollywood blockbuster movies that have proven to be a major hit amongst our viewers
However, to grow and nurture local talent eBotswana has also produced local shows not
only serve to provide viewers with locally produced programs but also helps empower the
BotswanaTelevision Industry (ibid ).



Although the media landscape is dominated by government

controlled media in both printand broadcasting, there are significant numbers of private
media, especially in the printsector, with a reasonable degree of diversity and independence
(Rooney, 2012; Fombad 2011, p.18).In the broadcasting sector there are two state-owned
national radio stations; three national privately-owned and eight foreign stations in Botswana
(IREX 2010).
Botswana TV: its aims as seen by itself and the government
The purpose of this research paper is to examine
BTVs stated
aims on news and currentaffairs programming and to examine empirically the product the
station actually broadcasts.In this way it will be possible to come to a conclusion about how
well BTV is meeting itsaims.BTV and Radio Botswana 1 and 2 are run as government
departments, within the Office ofthe President, with staff hired by the Directorate of Public
Service Management, as is the casewith all government employees. Therefore, the state
broadcaster is not accountable to the public (African Media Barometer, 2011, pp.43-44).This
means, according to the African Media Barometer, that in effect BTV is run as an organof the
government
and there is no legislation to guarantee the stations editorial independence
from political influence.Before coming under the present Department of Broadcasting
Services, which is a division ofthe Office of the President, BTV was part of the Department of
Information and Broadcasting(DIB). The aims of the station date from the days of DIB. The
DIB said the stationcommitted itself to provide at least 60 percent local content to meet the
diverse needs ofBatswana (the people of Botswana) According to its guiding principles, the
station wasupbeat and forward looking, and sought to align its strategy with the national
vision, Vision2016 (see below). It recognized that the majority of Batswana were young
people, and thatBotswana had diverse cultural and language groups. It also recognized that
Botswana was part of an integrated global village and had to compete effectively (Dept. of
Information andBroadcasting website).It also said that the role of the DIB was to use BTV to
mobilize Batswana towards nationaldevelopment, to inform them about events within and
outside the country, to interpret suchevents and whenever possible suggest appropriate
approaches to them. The department alsoeducates and entertains citizens in accordance
with national development goals and interests.DIB said it executed editorial policy in line with
its role as a public service media chargedwith the responsibility of promoting policies of the
government.

The department is hence,dedicated to the provision of objective, balanced, credible and
professionally-tailored programmes and publications.


The

Standards and Values

of Botswana TV stated that

Botswana TV aspires to producework to the highest standards of professionalism.
Programmes must be impartial andinformative

(BTV Standards and Values website).In a seeming contradiction to the
DIBs
stated role to

mobilize Batswana towards nationaldevelopment

, BTV itself regarded its programming policy as

attempt[ing] to cover mostgenres, but the emphasis at first must be on sports, news music
and talk shows

(
ibid
).However, possibly wi
th the departments mandate of
national development

in mind BTVstated its task was

to celebrate and develop the civic values that the nation hold common,while reflecting and
enjoying the divers
ity of culture within Botswana (
ibid
).The commitment of BTV News was stated as

to giving you fair, accurate and balancedreporting. In line with the country's Vision 2016,
BTV News aims at ensuring that Batswanaare properly informed, educated and become
innovative
.
It stated,

There is no doubt in our minds that BTV News is perhaps the most watched showin the
station. So to those who wonder about editorial independence and integrity we say,watch us
and judge for yourself for indeed the proof of the pudding is in the eating

(BTV News Striving for the Truth website).A statement from the (unnamed)
Director Department of Broadcasting that formed theintroductory page to the Botswana TV
website appeared to have been written at or about the
time of the stations launch in 2000. It
said the

most basic benefit

in introducing the
nations own TV service
was that the,

people of Botswana had never really seen themselvesin the manner they perceive
themselves

(BTV from the Director website).From the information supplied on the various webpages we
can conclude that according to
BTVs own interpretation of its
aim, the following statements represent the
stations
commitments to news and current affairs programming.1.

News and current affairs are to inform Batswana about events within and outside
thecountry, to interpret such events and whenever possible suggest appropriateapproaches
to them.2.

BTV executes editorial policy in line with its role as a public service media chargedwith the
responsibility of promoting policies of the government.3.

BTV is dedicated to the provision of objective, balanced, credible and professionally-tailored
programmes.4.

BTV programmes must be impartial and informative.5.

BTV News aims to broadcast

fair, accurate and balanced reporting. In line with thecountry

s Vision 2016, BTV News aims at ensuring that Batswana are properlyinformed, educated
and become innovative

.
Vision 2016
In addition to BTVs interpretation of its own
aims, it is instructive to also consider theaspirations of the people of Botswana in regard to
what the television station might deliver.