The Government-owned Lesotho News Agency (LENA) was established in 1985 as a national news agency responsible for distributing local, regional, and international news services to local and international media outlets, institutions, and individuals. LENA has also managed the government-operated newspapers Lentsoe la Basotho/Lesotho Today and Lesotho Weekly.
Media assets
News agency: LENA
Publishing: Lentsoe La Basotho, Lesotho Weekly
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
The government of Lesotho owns LENA through the Department of Information, which makes all the decisions related to the agency’s staff, management and overall operations. LENA operates from the Department of Information in the Ministry of Communications, Science & Technology. The agency is led by a Director General who reports to the deputy principal secretary in the ministry.
Source of funding and budget
LENA is almost entirely financed by the government. According to data from the finance ministry, in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, the government allocated LENA a subsidy of LSL 4.4m (US$284,000) to cover its operations. In the 2022/2023 fiscal year, LENA received a state subsidy worth LSL 5.35m (US$283,000). The following year, it received the same amount of state subsidy.
Editorial independence
According to local journalists and ad hoc content analysis, LENA’s editorial coverage is openly biased towards the government and the ruling elite. Its editors are government appointees and subordinates who report to the minister through a thicket of bureaucratic structures.
LENA does not have an independent editorial policy that is independent of government guidelines and directives.
LENA follows government guidelines put forward by the parent ministry through the Department of Information in its editorial coverage. No independent mechanism to assess LENA’s editorial independence has been identified.
July 2024