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: ✓ ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 2.8 (2015: 2.4, 2012: 2.9, 2010: 2.1, 2008: 1.9, 2006: 2.1) 1.2 The right to freedom of expression is practised and citizens, including journalists, are asserting their rights without fear ‘Largely citizens in Lesotho do exercise their rights to freedom of expression.’ ‘Basotho are not limited regarding culture at all. They even criticise chiefs and the king.’ ‘There is some fear, but it is so institutionalised that you don’t even see it.’ There was consensus among the panellists that Lesotho does enjoy freedom of expression to a certain degree, which is mainly evident on radio. The country has 16 radio stations and people are able to express themselves freely. ‘I go to TV Lesotho and I hammer the president and nothing happens to me…at least in this present regime.’ Lesotho has a highly polarised media environment and people only ‘speak their minds’ when they are sure of the ideological stance of the radio station. For example, people calling on Radio Lesotho, the main government radio station, speak in a more cautious way or risk being cut off by the presenter if it is felt that they are ‘crossing the line’. It is believed that the majority of people who go on the radio and choose to remain anonymous by using fake names are most likely government employees; otherwise, most people are not afraid to mention their names. The practise of the right to freedom of expression by both citizens and journalists has seen its good and bad times in recent years. ‘In Lesotho, we have a special situation in that the state of media freedom depends on the government in power. Over the last years since the last African Media Barometer [in 2015], we have had three governments and the situation has been shifting. In the same three years, there was a government that threatened the media and then another that was supportive of media.’ Government media are now publishing critical stories, which was not possible before. 10 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2018