Mali 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 Mali Chapter (PDF): 2012 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2006/7 (français)
MSI Mali - 2012 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.84
Mali had once been considered a guidepost for democracy in Africa. This proved a mirage after March 22, 2012, when, a few weeks before the presidential election, there was a military coup. Under pressure from the international community, and with the Economic Community of West African States already mobilized, the junta signed a framework agreement on April 6 to put in place a policy for a one-year political transition. The stranglehold of rebel groups in the north of the country, especially after April 6, 2012, further aggravated the situation.
The media have been hard hit by the political and security crisis. Today, of more than 300 openly declared private newspapers in Mali, only about 30 are publishing on a fairly regular basis. According to official statistics, some 498 permits to establish FM radio stations have been issued country-wide, and about 300 of those stations are actually transmitting. These include the eight Malian Radio-Television stations in the regional capitals.
Bamako District is home to 19 private radio stations plus two public stations, while Ségou, Sikasso, and Kayes have the widest coverage among the other regions. The northern regions that were under occupation—Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal—have the poorest coverage and saw some of their local stations closed. Beyond domestic television, in Mali’s major cities people receive almost 200 cable channels offered by television rebroadcasters.
In the printed press, with the exception of the national daily L’Essor, which covers all major cities, the private press distributes 90 percent of all its copies in Bamako. There is also a local-language press that covers the areas where Bamanan, Peul, and Soninke are spoken. The local press organs that emerged in some major towns in previous years are less frequently found in newsstands.
Despite the proliferation of media outlets in Mali, problems do still exist. Mali remains a difficult financial environment, and skilled media personnel are hard to find. All this is exacerbated by the political and security crises that have been shaking the country since March 2012.
The Mali study was coordinated by, and conducted in partnership with, Media Foundation West Africa, Accra, Ghana.
Editor’s note: The panelists’ scores and contributions for this chapter largely reflect conditions in what was government-held territory, in the south, when the panel discussion was held in September 2012. Conditions in rebel- and Islamist-held areas in the north were, and continue to be, notably less conducive to a sustainable, independent media.
