SECTOR 4 The media practice high levels of professional standards. 4.1 The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards, which are enforced by self–regulatory bodies that deal with complaints from the public. In 2007, The Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ) adopted a Code of Ethics. It enjoins journalists among others to “adhere to the truth” and “give an unbiased and balanced account of the facts”, “be socially responsible” and protect confidential sources of information. Article 8 of the code states that “under no circumstances shall news be suppressed unless it compromises national security or it is in the public interest to do so”. “When we included that we didn’t want to be seen as people who are going to promote anarchy. We meant ‘national security’ in the broadest sense, rather than how governments define it. However, we have never had anyone interpret it.” Some panellists felt this code is not really followed – “it is just on paper”. “As a journalist you expect people to know the code of ethics and, as much as possible, follow it. But there is no independent body to enforce the code. So what do you do? If there are ethical questions, the decision now lies with the editor. You need an independent arbiter.” Other panellists felt the code does play a role. “It forms the basis of our operations, and we like to abide by it. There are challenging cases, but we try to follow the code every day. We widely distributed the code at the beginning of the year. When an ethical issue arises, we discuss it at the staff meeting.” Similarly, all journalists working for Swazi TV and SBIS have copies of the code, but implementing it “is a different matter because of the (political) interference”. SBIS also has its own in-house code of ethics designed specifically for radio. The media has established its own voluntary Media Complaints Commission (MCC) which was registered as a non-profit company in June 2011. This marked the end of a 14-year struggle by the media to establish media self-regulation. The last attempt was prompted by government’s move to set up a statutory body through a Media Commission Bill, which was published in 2007 and approved by Cabinet in April 2010. At first government refused to register the MCC, preferring instead to proceed with the statutory body. Government finally relented – for the time being. 56 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SWAZILAND 2011