SECTOR 1 some panellists felt that civil society’s advocacy around free expression and media freedom tended to be reactive, rather than being “programmatic” and proactive. When PCFM was taken off air, for example, civil society’s response was not united. “One side said it was not right, while others felt it was justified.” Panellists felt this was an illustration of how civil society is divided culturally and politically. When civil society advances the cause of free expression and media freedom, the impact is dubious. “Our advocacy and lobbying strategies do not attract the required response. If we demonstrate while government is already addressing the issue, you put them off. They want us to be patient. But when you are patient, they take too long.” Government perceives civil society to be oppositional, panellists explained, particularly because opposition parties are often hostile towards the state media. For example, the opposition ACP party barred a state television camera crew from covering their press conference, because the journalists were thought to be spying for the government. Civil society did not react to this incident. Furthermore, state media tends to cover opposition parties only when such coverage will reflect badly on the opposition, for example when an opposition party splits. Active public participation in radio talk shows suggests that Basotho consider freedom of expression to be a “god-given right”. However, panellists doubted whether the public was aware of the legal provisions for, and standards guaranteeing this freedom. Moreover, this awareness of and belief in an individual’s right to free expression tends to be greatest among people living in the capital city - Maseru - and other urban areas. “Out in the village, people will feel that you can only express something with permission of the chief.” Given this state of affairs, it appears that media lobby groups have not really had an impact beyond urban areas, where only a minority of the population lives. Having said this though, when the private radio station MoAfrika was disconnected from the national transmitter network in 2004, it was people in very rural areas who called for the station to be put back on air. MoAfrika was, however, reconnected to the national transmitter network only when it pledged - on air - its support for the government. The station has recently withdrawn this support, and panellists expect that the station will be disconnected from the network once more - ostensibly on the grounds that, like most private radio stations, it is in arrears with its payments to Radio Lesotho for using the state network. 22 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2010