The purpose of this project is to promote local capacity building in safety and protection of journalists by reinforcing the existing monitoring network of the Swaziland Union of Journalists and Swaziland Editors’ Forum with a 3-day national seminar and creating social media tools for online safety monitoring and reporting. The proposed training will use the UNESCO produced “Model Curricula for Journalism Education: A Compendium of New Syllabi”, which incorporates a module on safety and journalism. Under this module, the workshop content will be drawn from “Unit1” - Rights and legal...
Countries: Swaziland
On the surface, Swaziland appears to have all the necessary ingredients for media development. The Constitution guarantees freedom of expression, the press and other media, while the Information and Media Policy requires the media to eradicate information poverty and reduce community isolation by providing a platform for social interaction and public participation. There is a voluntary regulatory body to protect citizens’ interests and media practitioners are represented by two professional associations and by the Swaziland Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa.
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The absence of a media complaints mechanism in Swaziland has led to a lack of trust of the media sector by the majority of citizens. In an effort to address the issue, the Cabinet of the Kingdom of Swaziland has endorsed the creation of a Media Commission Bill which would seek to regulate the media. However, this has been met with opposition by many media stakeholders who feel strongly that the media sector should be self-regulated and not subject to government control, particularly since the country's media landscape is at present dominated by state-owned channels. Media organizations...
Period: 1999-2000
