{"id":38550,"date":"2024-03-02T10:34:16","date_gmt":"2024-03-02T10:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist"},"modified":"2024-03-02T10:43:57","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T10:43:57","slug":"media-mourns-veteran-journalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist","title":{"rendered":"Media mourns veteran journalist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Keketso Lawrence, who died last week Monday at the age of 54, will be remembered as a consummate journalist and media trainer who dedicated his life in the service of society.<\/p>\n

Lawrence died on Christmas Day while waiting for treatment at Queen \u2019Mamohato Memorial Hospital. He will be buried at his home in Ha-Mabekenyane, Berea, next Saturday.<\/p>\n

His sister, Nts\u030celiseng Lawrence, told thepost that the veteran journalist and media trainer \u201cwas still queuing at the emergencies department\u201d when he died.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just a soft person,\u201d she said. Mzimkhulu Sithetho, who was mentored by Lawrence when he joined the media fraternity in 1998, said his death has left him devastated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am one of his products,\u201d Sithetho said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCelebrities steal the stage, heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Go well Lawrence, the legend,\u201d he said in a tribute on his Facebook wall.<\/p>\n

Lawrence began his journalism career in the stunted, fragmented and embryonic media field of Lesotho in the late 1980s. Sithetho said Lawrence remained true to his calling over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

After the 1998 riots in Lesotho, Lawrence soldiered on, surviving the rigours and storms in the media field. He went through a rough patch as he sought to improve the standards of journalism in Lesotho.<\/p>\n

Colleagues in the media said Lawrence began his journalism when the private sector was still very small. That made it extremely difficult for newspapers to survive as the advertising market was very small.<\/p>\n

Sithetho said Lawrence was a mentor and coach in the newsroom. \u201cHe would hold regular informal newsroom training sessions for us, giving us tips on how to write good stories,\u201d Sithetho recalled.<\/p>\n

He said Lawrence\u2019s catch-phrase was \u2018make it simple. \u2019 \u201cSimplicity was his nature,\u201d he said, adding that Lawrence introduced them to simple, straightforward and easy-to-understand writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cLawrence was not the type of editor who would scold and yell at reporters. He was a mentor and would take you through until you got it. \u201d<\/p>\n

Lawrence was at the forefront in the setting up of the Media Institute of Lesotho (MILES), which later became the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Lesotho) after joining the regional press bloc.<\/p>\n

One of his biggest achievements was the adoption of the Open the Waves Campaign, which he led as the Secretary-General of MILES. The campaign eventually saw the government liberalise the airwaves, leading to the opening of new radio stations in Lesotho.<\/p>\n

There are now close to 30 radio stations in the country. He also ran a small newspaper called Mopheme \u2013 The Survivor which shut down in 2008. Former Minister of Communications, Khotso Letsatsi, said Lawrence \u201cwas a dedicated person who loved the media wholeheartedly\u201d.<\/p>\n

Letsatsi joined Lawrence while running a dummy for Mopheme. \u201cWe asked him to transform Mopheme into a full-fledged newspaper,\u201d Letsatsi said. Development for Peace Education coordinator, Sofonea Shale, said Lawrence fought tirelessly for media freedom in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could fight for what he wanted to achieve against all odds,\u201d Shale said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Keketso Lawrence, who died last week Monday at the age of 54, will be remembered as a consummate journalist and media trainer who dedicated his life in the service of society. Lawrence died on Christmas Day while waiting for treatment at Queen \u2019Mamohato Memorial Hospital. He will be buried at his home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":38549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7],"tags":[233,246,245,2418],"class_list":["post-38550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-memorial"],"yoast_head":"\nMedia mourns veteran journalist - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Keketso Lawrence, who died last week Monday at the age of 54, will be remembered as a consummate journalist and media tr ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Media mourns veteran journalist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Keketso Lawrence, who died last week Monday at the age of 54, will be remembered as a consummate journalist and media tr ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-02T10:34:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-02T10:43:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Media mourns veteran journalist\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-02T10:34:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-02T10:43:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist\"},\"wordCount\":508,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Memorial\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"head lines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist\",\"name\":\"Media mourns veteran journalist - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-02T10:34:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-02T10:43:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Keketso Lawrence, who died last week Monday at the age of 54, will be remembered as a consummate journalist and media tr ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Media mourns veteran journalist\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Media mourns veteran journalist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Media mourns veteran journalist - Lesotho","description":"Keketso Lawrence, who died last week Monday at the age of 54, will be remembered as a consummate journalist and media tr ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Media mourns veteran journalist","og_description":"Keketso Lawrence, who died last week Monday at the age of 54, will be remembered as a consummate journalist and media tr ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-03-02T10:34:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-02T10:43:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Media mourns veteran journalist","datePublished":"2024-03-02T10:34:16+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-02T10:43:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist"},"wordCount":508,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Lesotho","Lesotho","Memorial"],"articleSection":["all news","community","head lines"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist","name":"Media mourns veteran journalist - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg","datePublished":"2024-03-02T10:34:16+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-02T10:43:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Keketso Lawrence, who died last week Monday at the age of 54, will be remembered as a consummate journalist and media tr ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363516.403102.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Media mourns veteran journalist"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/media-mourns-veteran-journalist#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Media mourns veteran journalist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}