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Monday 7 July 2008

SWAZI CENSORSHIP – MEDIA REACTION

As expected, the Swazi media almost totally ignored the research published on Friday that said imposed censorship and self-censorship was rife in Swaziland.

The research said that according to journalists and editors the biggest problem with censorship in Swaziland was the position taken by King Mswati III.

Journalists are afraid to upset him for fear of retribution.

The research, which was undertaken by me on behalf of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland chapter, was presented on Friday (4 July 2008) to an audience made up of senior media figures, journalists and people from various NGOs in Swaziland.

The only media house to give any meaningful coverage to the research was the Weekend Observer (5 July 2008) which devoted an entire page to it. However, the newspaper failed to mention at all the fear the media has about the king. It did however make a tantalising reference to it by reporting that ‘On self-censorship, the respondents highlighted fear of offending the authorities as the main cause.’ For ‘authorities’ read ‘king’.

I have some sympathy with the media over this lack of coverage. During the question and answer session at the report’s launch, it became clear that there is a very deep rooted fear of the monarchy in Swaziland.

One very senior media figure said that we had to remember that King Mswati III is above the law. This is true, even the new Swazi Constituion allows the king to be above the law. What this in effect means is that the king can do whatever he likes and if he decides to close down a newspaper he doesn’t like – as he threatened to do with the Times of Swaziland group in March 2007 – he can. And he will.

Another example of the fear of the monarchy emerged at the research report launch when one participant said that we should be careful letting the king know how afraid the media are of him. There was no discussion on this point, but one interpretation I would put on the comment is that if King Mswati knows he can get away with bullying the media he will use that power to cause trouble.

The Weekend Observer report concentrated on the problems I had conducting the research. Some people in the media industries were reluctant to take part in the research for fear of retribution. All those who did take part were guaranteed anonymity. I think this tells us a great deal about the fear that people in Swaziland live under in their daily lives. People are simply scared to be seen to be criticising the status quo. This is especially so when it comes to criticising the monarchy.

I outlined some of the problems I had with the research in the report itself.

I wrote,

‘Swaziland is not a democracy and some people have genuine fears of victimisation if they express themselves on controversial matters. For this reason all information was given to the researcher on the condition of anonymity.

‘Before interviews began, some respondents expressed concerns that they would be able to be identified from the specific examples of censorship practice they gave.

‘This is a genuine concern and therefore special care had to be taken in writing the narrative of this report and in some instances detail has deliberately been deleted or obscured to protect the source.

‘All interviews were recorded on the understanding that once the interview was transcribed the recording would be wiped.’

Nobody from state-controlled radio or television agreed to take part in the research.

I had a telling experience with state-controlled Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS) radio. One senior journalist agreed to meet with me, but when I arrived for the interview, declined to be interviewed. The journalist said permission would need to be sought from the management of the radio station before an interview would be forthcoming. Even though the interview was seeking the personal experiences of those who were being questioned, and not statements on behalf of the media organisation, the journalist felt unable to take part without the expressed permission of seniors.

I was directed to also seek the permission of the Minister of Public Services and Information before making further requests of SBIS. I declined the invitation and subsequently nobody from SBIS was interviewed. This encounter speaks volumes about the state of censorship at SBIS.

I personally wasn’t responsible for choosing the respondents in the research. This was done on my behalf by MISA. I was told that some people declined to be interviewed by me for fear of the consequences, but they did give information about their experiences of censorship in Swaziland. I was later told that some of these stories were even more telling than those that eventually appeared in the final report.

The Weekend Observer has placed its reports on the launch on its website. To access them click on a headline.

Journalists censor themselves

...but they are doing their best

I have the full research report called The Existence of Censorship in Newsrooms in Swaziland as a Word file. If you want a copy please email me at swazimedia@yahoo.com

See also
CENSORSHIP AND THE SWAZI MEDIA

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