SECTOR 1

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 (2008 = 2.0 ; 2006 = 3.6)

1.12 Media legislation evolves from meaningful
consultations among state institutions, citizens
and interest groups.
Stakeholders are invited by government to consultative
meetings, but there is little opportunity to debate issues
on such occasions. “We can make submissions, but it
takes a long time to find out if these have been taken
into account. We get no feedback from government
once we’ve made our submission.” MISA made many
suggestions, comments and inputs during the drafting
of various media and communications policies, but few
of the organisation’s views were taken on board.
There have been a number of attempts to formulate
a media policy since the mid-1990s. Delegates
explained that in 1997, a consultative conference
convened by government adopted a policy that
MISA had drafted. It seemed that government would
approve the policy, not least because it was backed
by the then-Prime Minister. As such, a UN agency
funded the printing and distribution of copies of this
policy in the belief that government was about to
adopt it.

“We can make
submissions, but it
takes a long time
to find out if these
have been taken
into account. We get
no feedback from
government once
we’ve made our
submission.”

However, the Prime Minister and Information Minister who had backed the
policy were later replaced, and their successors did not take the policy forward.
Instead, government drafted a new policy some years later, which meant there were

AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2010

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