Djibouti Media Sustainability Index (MSI)

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

MSI Methodology

Download Complete Djibouti Chapter (PDF): 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2006/7 (français)

MSI Djibouti-2010 Introduction

Overall Country Score: 1.21

The last of the African French colonies to secure its independence in 1977, Djibouti continues to hold deep ties to France. In a region rocked by violence, President Ismael Omar Guellah has held the country in relative stability since signing a peace agreement in 2001 with a belligerent faction of the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD). Djibouti takes advantage of its calm coastline and hosts French and U.S. troops involved in the fight against terrorism and piracy, and servces as a key shipping center for the region.

One casualty of the country's stability is the freedom of the press, which the government restricts by dominating the media scene and controlling all publications strictly. One opposition paper, Le Renouveau "Renewal"), remained banned throughout 2010. As the owner of Radio Television of Djibouti (RTD), the government controls domestic broadcasting. The sole news service, Agence Djiboutienne d'Information (ADI), and the two highest-circulation newspapers (French-language La Nation and Arabic-language Al Qarn) belong to the government as well.

Freedom House reported that in April 2010, as Djibouti approached the 2011 election year, parliarment amended the constitution and cleared the way for President Guelleh to run for a third term.1 Within the current media climate, there is little hope that the media will present any unbiased content to inform the vote. as noted in last year's MSI, neither the state nore the private media provide balanced reporting, depriving citizens of a platofrm to hold the government and opposition politicians accountable.

Due to the polarized state of the media in Djibouti, in which all outlets are politicized and vocal media members are at riks of negative consequences, IREX was unable to find a sufficient number of media professional willing to participate in the MSI. This study reflects a combination of research and interviews with individuals knowledgeable of the media in Djibouti.

^{1 "Freedom in the World 2011." Freedom House, 2011. Available at htpp://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2011&country=8026 (Accessed December 2, 2011.)}