Lesotho: MISA victory ensures media access to public information

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Lesotho has acted decisively to ensure that public and private media have equal access to public information about the upcoming Commonwealth Speakers' Conference in Lesotho starting on 2 November 2005. On 31 October, media houses in Maseru - which include the Lesotho Defence Force Public Relations Office, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Southern African Press Association (SAPA) and Agence France-Presse (AFP) - were refused information at the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Lesotho about the Commonwealth Speakers' Conference. The reason given by the authorities was that the information would first be transmitted to the government-owned and controlled Radio Lesotho before being transmitted to the independent media.