Gabon 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 Gabon Chapter (PDF): 2010 | 2009 | 2008
MSI Gabon-2010 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.79
As part of the celebration of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2010, Laure Olga Gondjout, Gabonese minister of communication, postal services, and the digital economy, visited a number of broadcast and print media outlets to learn about the working conditions of media professionals in Gabon. In her statements on World Press Freedom Day, Gondjout expressed her satisfaction that the president, Ali Bongo, continued to support a press that is not only free, but is above all professional in the construction and consolidation of the young democracy of Gabon.
However, despite that official optimism, many media professionals in Gabon maintain that the freedom of the press is violated constantly in their country. According to one observer of the political and media scene, under Ali Bongo the new authorities are afraid of the conscientious work that could make the Gabonese press one that truly reflects public opinion. An independent credible free press also poses a threat to many others across Gabon society: the industrialist who spread radiation and endangered the health of the population with complete impunity; the manufacturers of consumer goods that dumped harmful products on the market; the racketeers of every stripe who benefited from the state of corruption in government departments.
Faced with that picture, many MSI panelists believe that in a country with a very long tradition of bullying supporters of civil liberties, the press must play a leading role by facing up to reprisals from the political authorities, and by showing a willingness to challenge the longstanding tradition of silence. That is the only way, they feel, to expose the principal problems that bring harm to the country’s development and militate against the modernization of its political habits.
Despite the sense of pessimism, the panelists did highlight some signs of improvement. In 2010, after a long period without a formal journalism school, the University of Libreville opened a Department of Communication and Journalism. And, on the heels of the 2009 election, new media technology is becoming more familiar—although there are significant geographic and economic barriers to broader use of the Internet. Still, with heavy political and economic pressure, the overall environment does not encourage growth and progress in the sector, keeping sustainability out of reach.
The Gabon study was coordinated by, and conducted in partnership with, Journaliste en Danger, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
