A SENIOR officer at the state-owned Botswana TV (BTV) resigned on Friday in protest at what he claimed is government’s gross interference in the running of the station. Briton Chris Bishop was in charge of the pivotal news and current affairs section. “I feel that it not only renders the running of TV news impractical, but also cheats the taxpayers to which the service belongs,” Bishop said. Contrary to what was stated when he was recruited last year, he said, Botswana authorities have not allowed him much room to operate independently. “The journalists at BTV and myself have often been harassed by officialdom.” On a number of occasions, Bishop charged, he has been issued with veiled threats about certain stories handled by the station and that the Botswana office of the president was about to dispatch an officer to control news at BTV. Recently the powers that be ordered a documentary on executed South African woman, Mariette Bosch, not to be shown on BTV at the last minute. It is believed that this action was the immediate cause of Bishop’s resignation.