SECTOR 4 proprietors of private media do not want their editors to join the forum and prevent them from doing so. Media Watch was an association that focused on media and gender. The association became defunct however, when male members complained that it was pushing a radical ‘feminist agenda’, and this caused most of the men to pull out. Female media employees have also failed to organise themselves in womenonly associations. The Lesotho Women Media Empowerment Association is also defunct. The only professional body that is functional is the Lesotho Sports Reporters Association. This could partly be a result of the sponsorship and funding that the body gets from sports companies. Panellists noted that another challenge impacting on professional media bodies’ survival is that people who start these associations are not even journalists and that there has not been proper governance in these bodies. 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: ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 2.4 (2015: 2.0, 2012: 1.4, 2010: 2.0, 2008: 1.5, 2006: 1.9) 4.5 Journalists and media houses have integrity and are not corrupt ‘There is corruption among journalists in Lesotho simply because their salaries and working conditions are poor.’ The media’s relationship to powerful elites fuels corruption, which can take many forms. For example, some journalists receive bribes to cover the activities of certain government ministers. At times, journalists take items off a story or add unnecessary context to a story in order to please certain powerful members of society. It is claimed that journalists will even re-edit a story because they have received a bribe. 47 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2018