Equatorial Guinea Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
April 24, 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 Equatorial Guinea Chapter (PDF): 2012 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2006/7 (français)
MSI Equatorial Guinea - 2012 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.03
As in years past, Equatorial Guinea remains one of the most strident anti-free-press environments in the world. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s regime continues to spend lavishly to bolster the country’s international image, including holding the African Union’s 2011 summit and the Africa Cup of Nations, with Gabon, in 2012. Further insulting the human-rights community, Obiang eventually succeeded in endowing a UNESCO-sponsored prize in his name (although later dropped due to international protest in favor of “Equatorial Guinea”) and in hosting a human-rights conference backed by the US-based Leon Sullivan Foundation. Despite these public-relations coups, domestic freedoms continued to languish.
The MSI panel assembled in September 2012 for the first time in a nearly secret proceeding in Bata, the second city—not in Malabo, the capital, where all meetings are subject to prior authorization.
The panel agreed that little progress has been made for media development in Equatorial Guinea. Despite the legal norms that guarantee freedom of speech, the political environment does not enforce these laws. Access to information is strictly divided between the mainstream state media and those attempting to provide independent views. Obiang’s regime severely prosecutes journalists when they do not follow the instructions of the state, government, and ruling party, to the detriment of professional standards and ethics. Prosecutions are also undertaken in defamation cases.
Equatorial Guinea has two major media outlets either directly or indirectly controlled by the regime, which serve as the public’s main information sources. The national radio and television stations are far from respectful of media standards and ethics. Their journalists are civil servants, subject to immediate dismissal for noncompliance with their censors. Ostensibly private outlets also aggrandize the government and president, as required by the Ministry of Information, Press, and Radio, which permits publishers close to the regime only. Five such outlets are not subsidized regularly by the government but appear to receive ad hoc financing for their favorable coverage and public servitude. There are no domestic media outlets that contradict the government line in Equatorial Guinea.
Equatorial Guinea’s committed journalists have largely left the country due to government pressure and low wages, many promising to return only after the regime falls. Obiang has ruled the country since deposing his own uncle in 1979. A press worthy of the name does not exist in Equatorial Guinea—rather, it is a propaganda instrument of the government.
Due to the oppressive political environment, panelists for Equatorial Guinea agreed to participate only on condition of anonymity.
