SECTOR 4 Other panellists felt uncomfortable with a publisher sitting in on an editorial meeting, either before or after publication. “Their very presence interferes with editorial content.” A publisher’s line of communication with the newsroom should be through the managing editor. 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: 2.8 (2009: 2.1; 2007: 1.6; 2005: 1.6) 4.7 Journalists and media houses have integrity and are not corrupt. Members of the public have the impression that corruption within the media is a problem. Journalists receive gifts, and are even paid by politicians to write favourably about them during elections. Editors on the panel did not want to dismiss such allegations outright but warned that they might be based on rumours. The problem seems to have become more endemic since the emergence of a new generation of weeklies. “People have manipulated these papers, and paid. So the perception out there is that this is how the industry operates. What has happened is that people expect the Observer and Times to play the same game.” Some papers have mechanisms in place to reduce the opportunities for corruption. If a story presented at the morning news conference is no longer on the story roster come the afternoon news conference, the news editor has to explain to the managing editor why the story has been dropped. Some media houses also require their journalists to declare any gifts they receive worth over E100 (US$ 14.50). 64 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SWAZILAND 2011