Djibouti Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
April 25, 2013
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 Djibouti Chapter (PDF): 2012 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2006/7 (français)
MSI Djibouti-2012 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.20
The elections of 2011 ushered in a third term for incumbent President Ismael Omar Guellah following the hotly debated amendment to the constitutional limit of two terms for presidents. While a number of international observers declared the election to be free and fair, the governing coalition was able to maintain its stability partly by repressing anti-government protests and by enforcing a blanket ban on opposition rallies during the election campaign period.
The government continued to dominate the media scene through its control over Radio Television of Djibouti (RTD), the only broadcasting service, Agence Djiboutienne d’Information (ADI), the sole news service, along with La Nation and Al Qarn, the two highest-circulation newspapers. While opposition parties are legally allowed to publish newspapers, only one—the National Democratic Party—does so on a regular basis (La République). As noted in previous years, the political ownership of media creates a lack of balanced reporting.
The years 2011 and 2012 proved to be the beginning of a disturbing trend of increased legal and extra-legal repression of opposition reporters and activists, with correspondents of the European-based opposition radio station La Voix de Djibouti targeted with arrests, detention, and alleged torture at the hands of the gendarmerie. These reprisals, along with continued government domination of the media landscape, serve to reinforce the environment of self-censorship that is already rampant in Djibouti.
Due to the polarized state of the media in Djibouti, in which all outlets are politicized and vocal media members are at risk of negative consequences, IREX was unable to find a sufficient number of media professionals willing to participate in the MSI. This study reflects a combination of research and interviews with individuals knowledgeable of the media in Djibouti.
