SECTOR 1 1.10 Civil society in general and media lobby groups actively advance the cause of media freedom Lesotho has a variety of non-governmental organisations and CSOs working on issues of human rights and other related fields. These include, amongst others, the Transformation Resource Centre (TRC), the Lesotho Council of NGOs, the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Trust and the Lesotho National Council of Women. CSOs in Lesotho actively advance the cause of freedom of expression and media freedom. An example is the TRC – an ecumenical resource centre that advocates for justice, peace and participatory development and has worked with MISALesotho on some of its campaigns. The Catholic Commission has also cooperated with MISA-Lesotho to install community radio stations in three rural locations. Additionally, when MoAfrika FM Radio (a private radio station) was shut down, CSOs came out in force and confronted the government.2 A month later, it was shut down again for 72 hours as the government accused it of incitement to violence. The stations Editor-in-Chief, Ratabane Ramainoane, was briefly arrested when police accused him of criminal defamation. Some panellists felt that in certain cases, CSOs only support media freedom when they have an interest or have something to gain and do not always broadly support freedom of expression and media freedom out of genuine interest or concern. Other panellists disagreed, stating that any partnership is a ‘win-win’ situation and that it should be acknowledged that CSOs have budget lines attached to projects and therefore they cannot move money to support issues that are outside their mandate. The general population is also aware of media freedom matters and has come out in support of the media. A good example is the citizen-driven ‘#HandsOffOurJournalists’ campaign in 2018. 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 19 ✓✓✓ ✓✓✓✓ ✓✓ ✓✓ 4.5 (2015: 3.4, 2012: 1.4, 2010: 2.9, 2008: 2.0, 2006: 3.6) Authorities had shut down the radio station for six days in August 2017, accusing the station of having not paid government fees. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2018