SECTOR 2 “The policy is there, and it is a very good policy, but it is generally not known. Even the current ICT minister seems ignorant about it and the implementation is very poor.” An Information and Media Development Department has been established to create an enabling environment for the development of information technologies in the country. The creation of this enabling environment is meant to benefit the Swazi people, but currently it only appears on paper, and is not being implemented. “There is no political will to do this in Swaziland. It seems to be deliberate, as a way of keeping citizens in the dark about what is really happening.” 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: 2.9 (2005: n/a; 2007: n/a; 2009: 4.0; 2011: 2.5) 2.12 Government does not use its power over the placement of advertisements as a means to interfere with editorial content. The government is a very big player in the Swazi economy, and is the biggest advertiser. It is known to use its power to withhold advertising from publications considered non-supportive of the state, and to threaten to withdraw its advertising in an effort to get publications to ‘toe the line’ politically. Such directives tend to be unofficial and verbal, as happened with the Times a few years ago when government adverts were withdrawn from the paper because it was considered to have an anti-government editorial slant. Currently, the Nation is facing this situation, and does not receive any direct government advertising, although it does receive adverts from public enterprises. The government recently instituted new restrictions on public service announcements on the SBIS radio channels. In order to submit such an announcement to SBIS, individuals must first get permission from their chief to 42 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Swaziland 2014