MORE SELF-CENSORSHIP AT ‘TIMES’

The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, has for the second day running censored itself in its reporting of King Mswati III.

Today (9 May 2012), the Times reports on a Gallup poll that asked Swazi people whether they approved of the King’s leadership.

According to the newspaper, the King ‘received a majority vote from the Swazi people’.

Today’s publication follows a report in the Times yesterday that the Swazi Government had received only 40 percent of Swazi approval in the same Gallup poll. The Times made no reference to the King’s poll rating in that report.

The Times was criticised yesterday by Swazi Media Commentary for censoring itself by not reporting the poll result for King Mswati, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

Today, the Times responded with its report on the King’s rating.

But, although the report says the King received a ‘majority vote’ of his people, it does not give the figures.

That is because the King received only 56 percent approval – another 43 percent of the Swazis interviewed by Gallup disapproved of the King’s leadership.

The real story is not the number who approve of the King, but the 43 percent who disapprove.

In Swaziland, the mainstream media do not allow any criticism of the King. Instead they are likely to play up the importance of the King and report that his subjects unreservedly love him.

Also, the King has strict control over his subjects’ lives, especially the 75 percent who live in rural areas. Chiefs of areas are the King’s representative and they can decide who is able to live and work in the area. If you criticise the King, you upset the chief, and you can be sent into exile.

This means that when people have criticisms of the King, they keep them to themselves.

So, the fact that more than four in ten people are prepared to tell a Gallup pollster they disapprove of the King’s leadership is a significant development and might encourage others who have been too scared to voice their objection.

The Times newspaper knows this and that’s why it censored itself in the report.

See also

‘TIMES’ CENSORS SELF ON KING’S POLL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/times-censors-self-on-kings-poll.html

POLL SHOWS DISAPPROVAL OF SWAZI KING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/poll-shows-disapproval-of-swazi-king.html

MEDIA FREEDOM AMONG GLOBAL WORSE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/media-freedom-among-global-worse.html

‘TIMES’ CENSORS SELF ON KING’S POLL

The Times of Swaziland, the kingdom’s only independent daily newspaper, has censored itself over a poll showing disapproval of King Mswati III.

The Times today (8 May 2012) reports a Gallup finding that only 40 percent of Swazi people approve of the way the government runs the kingdom.

But, what the Times did not report was that the same poll found that 43 percent of Swazi people disapprove of King Mswati’s leadership. The King is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

The self-censorship at the Times comes only days after Times’ managing editor, Mbongeni Mbingo, wrote in his own newspaper, ‘the challenge for us all in this country is access to information; and there can be no freedom if we are still battling to access basic information freely’. 

Mbingo was reacting to criticism Swazi journalists received during an event to mark World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.

Mbingo went on, ‘The press, therefore, tries under the prevailing situation to do all it can to publish information that is balanced and accurate.’

See also

POLL SHOWS DISAPPROVAL OF SWAZI KING

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/poll-shows-disapproval-of-swazi-king.html

MEDIA FREEDOM AMONG GLOBAL WORSE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/media-freedom-among-global-worse.html

POLL SHOWS DISAPPROVAL OF SWAZI KING

More than four in 10 Swazi people disapprove of King Mswati III’s leadership, a new Gallup opinion poll reveals. 

The news will surprise many observers of the kingdom, where King Mswati reigns as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, as local media continually report that all Swazis love their king.

Gallup interviewed 1,000 adults aged over 15, face-to-face, in Swaziland between 13 and 21 November, 2011 as part of a survey into attitudes to leaders conducted across the world. The results have just been released.

Gallup found that 43 percent of the people interviewed answered Disapprove and 56 percent, Approve, to the question: Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of King Mswati?

The Swazi Government came out worse than the king. Asked about approval of the kingdom’s leadership more generally, 40 percent approved and 56 percent disapproved.