SECTOR 2 believed that he is the drawcard for all the Government support and advertising in his publication. Le Matinal has shown that it is willing to lose good journalists to ensure that the EIC continues in his position at the paper. Le Militant – a paper belonging to the opposition MMM – went out of business because it did not get any Government advertising after the party lost power in 2005. It now publishes online. The current government gradually began withdrawing advertising from L’Express soon after it won elections in 2005. It eventually withdrew all advertising in 2009, mainly because the Editor-in-Chief of L’Express is regarded as a critical opponent of government. The publishing company, La Sentinelle, has taken the case to the Supreme Court on the basis that Government is required to advertise vacancies and tenders in widely circulated publications. The outcome of this court case had not been decided at the time of this AMB report. The stance taken by government is usually supported by large parastatals such as Mauritius Telecom and Waste Water Authority. These are big companies that issue numerous advertisements, but over the past few years they have tended to advertise only in media who are close to the government of the day. Furthermore, private companies need government authorisation for licences and projects, so very few of them will jeopardise their positions by advertising in media that they know have been blacklisted by government. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 34 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MAURITIUS 2010 1.3 (2008 =1.3)