Burkina Faso Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
March 14, 2012
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country's media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and began studying Africa in 2006.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download Complete Burkina Faso Chapter (PDF): 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2006/7 (français)
MSI Burkina Faso-2010 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 2.11
Little changed on the political front in Burkina Faso in 2010, as Burkina Faso’s president, Blaise Compaoré, easily won re-election in the November 2010 election, as expected. The media environment also saw few surprises. The media’s strengths—such as laws that support the freedom of expression on paper, an independent media critical of the government, and few crimes against journalists—provide several important pieces for a sustainable foundation for the press. However, critical shortcomings continue to hamper progress and sustainability, and contributed to MSI scores dropping moderately during the period of study. Challenges include poor access to information; hindered investigative reporting; laws on the books that criminalize libel; widespread self-censorship; the lack of a true, independent news agency; and a public media sector that serves the government rather than the public interest.
Efforts have been underway since 2007 to provide journalists with a collective agreement and a press card to help govern the profession. The 2009 MSI panelists were encouraged that the effort finally succeeded that year: the agreement was signed into force by the Association of Journalists of Burkina (AJB) and Société des Éditeurs de la Presse1 (SEP) under the auspices of the country’s main media regulatory, Conseil Supérieur de la Communication2 (CSC) in the presence of the prime minister. Yet in 2010, by the time the
MSI panel convened, the agreement had still not been implemented, as SEP had not yet put in place its required accompanying measures.
At the professional level, Burkina Faso has dedicated journalists, but ethical lapses (such as accepting payments to cover stories) persist. Although formal educational opportunities continue to grow, there is a need for greater hands-on, short-term training opportunities. In particular, MSI panelists have called for formal in-house training programs.
The growth of new media has slowed somewhat, as Internet use is still quite low—around one percent—in a country with widespread poverty and illiteracy. As a result, radio remains the major source of news.
The overall average lost more than a quarter of a point, and scores for Objective 1 (freedom of speech) fell significantly, especially because panelists continue to lament poor access to information, the criminalization of libel, and the non-transparent broadcast licensing process. Although Objective 5 (supporting institutions) received the highest overall score for the study, the average fell dramatically from last year’s MSI. Scores for other objectives also lost ground.
1Society of Press Publishers
2Higher Communication Council
