In the first article in a short series, the Media Development Investment Fund looked at the first two of the four major elements of media capture: capture of the media regulator, and control of the public service broadcaster. In this article, it looks at the use of state financing as a control tool, and taking ownership to interfere in editorial.
The search of a journalist’s phone in detention exemplifies the threat digital forensics technologies pose to privacy and press freedom around the world. In Botswana, journalists recount the frightening state of government surveillance, powered by international technology companies.
For our series about journalists’ favorite tools, we spoke with Joel Konopo of Botswana’s INK Centre for Investigative Journalism. He told GIJN’s Olivier Holmey all about how he uses satellite images to expose corruption, Cryptomator to encrypt sensitive files, and lots more.
Two investigative editors took huge pay cuts to launch Botswana’s first nonprofit newsroom. A year later, they took another, temporary cut just to pay for a single satellite image that proved that the country’s president had abused state funds to build a private lodge. Here’s Rowan Philp on the INK Centre for Investigative Journalism for GIJN’s member series.
The first Southern African Investigative Journalism Conference in Botswana took place in that country’s capital Gaborone from October 7-8 this month. About 175 journalists from 10 countries participated in the event, which featured talks ranging from the dangers of reporting on corruption and the Panama Papers in Africa to personal testimonies of reporters who have faced persecution and threats of violence for their reporting.
