Lesoto realizou suas eleições parlamentares pacificamente [en] no domingo. O Congresso Democrático do Primeiro Ministro Pakalitha Mosisili, que está no poder, ganhou a maioria dos votos, mas não conseguiu conquistar a requerida maioria das cadeiras. Os partidos de oposição de Lesoto formaram uma coalizão [en] para formar um governo.

Por que a mídia tradicional ocidental não está falando sobre as eleições pacíficas no Lesoto? JohnsonJJ diz que não deveria haver surpresa. Ele explica [en] como os especialistas ocidentais decidem o que vale a pena virar notícia na África:

It’s unsurprising that this has garnered little attention. In fact, the country receives very little international media attention except in the form of poverty porn that stresses how horrible, destitute and AIDS-ridden Lesotho is.

Uma eleitora em Lesoto apoiando o Primeiro Ministro Phakalitha Mosisili. Foto cortesia de Simon Allison&dailymaverick.co.za

Lesoto, segundo ele [en], é muito insignificante para fazer algum sucesso nos EUA:

The media establishment knows us pretty well. It knows that simplistic – sensationalized – stories sell in America. We’re not so great with nuance. This is why we were so sold on the idea, for example, that the Rwandan genocide was the result of “ancient ethnic hatreds” rather than geopolitical context. It’s also how we learned that failed state Somalia failed mainly because of its hordes of angry terrorists obsessed with killing Americans. And it’s how we came to learn that all African children have distended bellies and flies on their faces all day. It’s also how we learned from (the ever-obtuse) Nicholas Kristof that most African women suffer from “female genital mutilation” and that FGM poses the greatest threat to women on the entire continent.
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It’s that Lesotho is too small and insignificant to warrant our attention, and in any case, a tiny country with a burgeoning civil society? That’s never going to sell in the United States. If our uncritical engagement with media is any indication, we’re not even particularly engaged with our own.

Zachary Rosen nota [en] que, mesmo quando Lesoto recebe atenção da mídia, os artigos geralmente são relacionados a SIDA e a pobreza:

The little coverage it does garner often assumes readers are completely ignorant and takes great pains to emphasize dismal statistics about rates of HIV/AIDS and poverty.

Overall, few articles have attempted to move beyond superficialities and actually delve into the complexities of the local political atmosphere and the implications of the election outcome.

Até mesmo a mídia sulafricana ignorou as eleições no país, mesmo Lesoto sendo completamente cercada pela África do Sul.

@fanamokoena: It's embarrassing that SA media gives us daily updates on French elections but fail to do the same for sister country Lesotho. Irresponsible

@BelindaaPheto: Saddening to see SA's media houses showing little or no interest on the Lesotho elections.

@simonallison: Strange but true: I was the only journalist from any SA print or online pub. covering Lesotho elections. All other content from wires. Crazy

@sheofnations: @simonallison Makes sense for Int'l content,but it's highly problematic that news about the continent is filtered through Int'l media houses

@simonallison: @sheofnations yep, almost everything we read about Africa in SA is handpicked by European and American editors for their audiences…

O Lesoto é um enclave completamente cercado pela África do Sul. É uma monarquia constitucional. O Primeiro Ministro é o chefe do governo enquanto o rei possui uma função mais cerimonial. O nome Lesoto pode ser traduzido aproximadamente para “a terra onde se fala Sesoto”.