When it comes to expressing oneself freely without fear, panelists were unanimous in saying that citizens, including journalists, enjoy this right “at their own risk and peril”. Since the presidential election in March 2010 the media have chronicled a number of attacks and threats against journalists and technical staff. Among the most recent incidents were threats by a French adviser to the Togolese army, Colonel Romuald Letondot, against photojournalist Didier Ledoux on the margins of a demonstration by the opposition on 10 August 2010. Two weeks later the same reporter was kidnapped and beaten by the police in front of the House of Justice in Lomé. Also in August, the Union of Independent Journalists of Togo (UJIT) sounded alarm bells over threats of physical elimination against journalists in private newspapers and radio stations. In recent months 7 newspapers have had legal proceedings brought against them, most of them by the President of the Republic himself. The head of state claimed no less than FCFA 100 million (US$ 200 000) from one of these publications for having implicated him in a moral affair. The election period was also a very trying time for the media. In February 2010, radio Dawul de Bassar (in Kara region, 400km away from Lomé) and its management received threats from local administrative and judicial authorities for having broadcast a communiqué announcing a convoy of the Front Republicain pour l’Alternance et le Changement (FRAC - Republican Front for Change), an umbrella body of the opposition. On 13 March 2010, the AFP correspondent in Togo was attacked, this time by militant opposition supporters he had photographed during a demonstration of the Union des Forces de Changement (Union of Forces for Change - UFC). 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: 84 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER TOGO 2010 2.4