SECTOR 1 1.6 Confidential sources of information are protected by law and/or the courts Neither the constitution nor common law make any pronouncements on confidential sources of information. There have been cases when journalists have been forced to reveal their sources; a prominent example being in 2007, when a journalist from Public Eye was forced by a judge to reveal their sources. More recently in 2016, Keiso Mohloboli and Lloyd Mutungamiri, the editors of the Sunday Express and Lesotho Times newspapers respectively, were questioned by police and ordered to reveal their sources. A panellist noted that so far none of the journalists hounded to reveal their sources in recent years have done so. ‘Keiso and Marafaele skipped [fled] the country to avoid this.’ One panellist mentioned that the Internal Security Act states that if anyone refuses to reveal their sources, they can be prosecuted. Section 9 (1) of the Internal Security Act makes it an offence to fail to disclose any information to a member of the police force that might be of material assistance in preventing ‘subversive activity’ or in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of a person for an offence involving subversive activity. Although the information has to do with security matters, the law can be abused by adopting a broad definition of ‘subversive activity’ and this puts a chilling effect on the freedom of expression. ‘There have been cases where the military has forced some journalists to reveal their sources, but the journalists have refused.’ 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: 15 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2018 ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓✓✓ 1.4 (2015: 2.0, 2012: 1.5, 2010: 1.2, 2008: 1.0, 2006: 1.6)