Swaziland fore giving final approval. There is a sense of urgency about making the MCC operational as the threat of statutory regulation still hangs over the industry. Despite the media’s objection to the Media Commission Draft Bill, the government has not indicated that the bill will be abandoned. The media is thus fearful of the government’s agenda. But at the same time, there is some doubt amongst media practitioners themselves that self-regulation will really work. SCORES: Individual scores: 3, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3 Average score: 2.6 4.2 (2005=1.3) The standard of reporting follows the basic principles of accuracy and fairness. ANALYSIS: While the basic principles of accuracy are, for the most part, upheld by the media, the standard of reporting is lowered by repeated failure to be fair and balanced. A monitoring study conducted by MISA Swaziland on the print media indicated significant flaws in the standard of news reporting, such as a majority of single-sourced stories and a high incidence of failing to present competing perspectives and seek rejoinders. A second study on the reporting of gender violence indicated a propensity to report gender violence and child abuse stories unfairly. The drop in reporting standards is blamed on the lack of training and experience in the newsrooms: “There are no quality journalists any more.” Senior journalists are leaving the profession at a rapid rate and cub reporters (usually school leavers or at best diploma African Media Barometer - Swaziland 2007 35