SECTOR 4 4.5 Journalists and media houses have integrity and are not corrupt. In Gabon there are so-called “productivity incentive funds.” This term is used by journalists referring to money and other favours they receive from sources and event organizers. They also use terms such as “gombo, transportation costs, installation costs or induction fee” to talk about the same thing. The amounts thus collected range from ten thousand to hundreds of thousands of CFA francs (US$ 17 - 174). Some journalists receive monthly “maintenance fees” of up to 300,000 CFA francs (US$ 522), to treat information about the source in a favourable manner. This shows how rampant corruption is in the Gabonese media. The majority of journalists ask to be paid before publishing certain information. Worse still, some seek large sums of money from public figures and companies to suppress information or articles which threaten them. This state of affairs is due in part to the fact that journalists are generally not well paid. It is also the image of a Gabonese society characterized by widespread corruption, in all sectors and at many levels. 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: 2.1 4.6 Journalists and editors do not practise self-censorship in in the private broadcasting and print media. In Gabon, we know instinctively that there are certain persons and institutions with which “we don’t play”. Journalists know in advance that the authorities are very sensitive about certain subjects. All this pushes them to filter through which articles they publish and what to talk about on the news. Harassment is a recurring phenomenon even if the publicised information is not very compromising. For example, a journalist was brought before court and 104 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GABON 2016