SECTOR 4 The media practice high levels of professional standards. 4.1 The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards, which are enforced by self-regulatory bodies that deal with complaints from the public. The media in Mauritius do not have a voluntary or a statutory code of conduct by which they abide. The National Editors and Proprietors Association (NEPA) has managed to put together a draft code of conduct, which has been distributed amongst media practitioners for final approval. NEPA will also have to engage in a process to ensure consensus, so that media houses implement this voluntary code of conduct. The drafting of the code was a long and laborious process because it has been difficult to get consensus amongst the editors. Clashing egos and temperamental personalities have impeded progress. Individuals will pull out when things are not going their way, so NEPA is not functioning as effectively as it should. This lack of cooperation also extends to journalists and their media organisations. There is a group of editors that prefers to embrace a voluntary code of conduct only after the elimination of criminal defamation. These editors feel that it would be contradictory to develop a code of conduct while journalists have an impending Media Commission Bill hanging over their heads, and still face the possibility of being criminally sued for defamation. Other than NEPA, there are no professional media organisations in Mauritius. As such, processes are stalled by the lack of professional and formal structures to take them forward. La Sentinelle is the only media house that has a formal code of conduct that has been widely publicised. It has also set up a Complaints Committee that is independent of the media house, and the findings of this Committee are published in the media. To date it has only heard 12 cases and these are mostly brought to the Committee by people in prominent positions. Politicians very rarely take up the matter with the Committee, and prefer taking the matter to the courts instead. Mauritians do not have a culture of complaining, which is probably why ordinary citizens have never taken up an issue with the Complaints Committee at La Sentinelle. Being a small island, it is common practice in Mauritius to call the 52 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MAURITIUS 2010