SECTOR 4 With regards to freebies, most media houses have a policy where any freebie with a value of 100 E (7 USD) or more should be declared. An example of freebies offered are from the telecommunication companies, who are notorious for providing cell phones and tablets to journalists at their press briefings in the hope that this will result in positive coverage for their companies. 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: ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓✓ ✓ 1.7 (2005: n/a; 2007: n/a; 2009: 2.8; 2011: 2.8; 2014: 2.7) 4.6 Journalists and editors do not practice selfcensorship in the private broadcasting and print media As noted earlier, the most prominent private broadcasting and print media include Channel S, VOC, the Times, The Nation and the Independent News. Despite being privately owned, self-censorship is common in these media houses. ‘Self-censorship exists. There are certain stories that may be newsworthy, but journalists won’t write about them because they know that that they won’t be published. A source recently brought a story to me about a fire at one of the palaces but I knew it wouldn’t come out, so didn’t bother to write it.’ The level of self-censorship also depends on the ownership or strategic angle of the media house. ‘At the Times, although its private, it’s more of [a] government paper. They have double standards set by the managing editor, because he is editing the paper but also editing the king’s speeches. So, the bias is there and the stories are compromised.’ On TV, panellists noted that Channel S (given its in-house pro-monarch policy) ‘definitely self-censors on issues related to the king. But on everything else, they are more broad than Swazi TV’. This self-censorship is not only conducted by journalists but also by editors. Freelancers or other independent contributors often complain of the heavy editing of their stories. ‘Ministers wield their power and other private entities 54 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ESWATINI 2018