SECTOR 1 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓✓✓ ✓ ✓ 4.4 (2005: n/a; 2007: n/a; 2009: 4.2; 2011: 2.9; 2014: 1.9) 1.10 Civil society in general and media lobby groups actively advance the cause of media freedom Panellists agreed that generally, the effectiveness of civil society has been in decline. Civil society groups work in isolation and seldom collaborate on issues where collective action could produce stronger results. ‘Civil society in general in the past years in Swaziland [eSwatini] has become weakened regarding general advocacy, for multiple reasons such as shrinking space, decreased donor funding, lack of commitment and so on.’ ‘There has always been a challenge of uniting on issues that affect us all. Even though we all feel an issue, things are happening in silos and collaboration has been ad-hoc and not sustained.’ When it comes to supporting advocacy on media issues, ‘there has been a limited understanding of the role of the media. When it comes to the role of media and media literacy, citizens don’t fully understand’. The 2014 arrest of The Nation’s editor-in-chief Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, was cited as a rare example where media lobby groups and CSOs spoke out in unison on the issue of media freedom, although some believe that more could have been done to advocate around this issue. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland has continued to be the most prominent voice on issues of media freedom and in conducting media advocacy and training. Other media lobby groups such as the SNAJ also contribute to this agenda, although they have not been effective in recent years. ‘MISA has generally been the lone voice, but also, media practitioners themselves are not making a strong cause. We have seen the weakening of the SNAJ, which now lacks activism and visibility and is not pushing their agenda. So as a result, media issues are not very sexy [to the public].’ 19 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ESWATINI 2018