SECTOR 2 recognises only relationships between women and men, or “one man and many women”, as polygamy is commonly practised. The king himself has 13 wives. In terms of religion, Swaziland is said to be a Christian country, with about 90 percent of the population self-identifying as Christians. As such, there is not a fair representation of other religious voices in the media, and one rarely reads or hears about followers of Islam, Ba’hai, Buddhism or Hare Krishna. Even within the broad category of Christianity, there is a bias within the media, reflecting social mores. Members of the Council of Swaziland Churches, for example, receive very little media coverage because the council (comprising Anglicans and Catholics) is considered to be subversive because it tends to be critical of government, and is vocal on human rights issues. The Swaziland Conference of Churches and the League of Swazi Churches, however, which are more supportive of Swazi traditions, including the monarchy, receive wider coverage. A point was made, however, that personal biases of individual journalists tend to reflected in their reporting. For example, because there are a few Catholic journalists at the Swazi Observer, compared to other media, the newspaper gives greater coverage to Catholic issues. “Religion is highly politicised in Swaziland, where it is used as a political tool. Government officials will make comments like: ‘We are like Mount Zion, we cannot be shaken.’ And those who question authority will be labelled publicly as demons.” 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: 2.3 (2005: n/a; 2007: n/a; 2009: 2.0; 2011: 2.9) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Swaziland 2014 39