SECTOR 1 1.6 Confidential sources of information are protected by law and/or the courts. The Code of Communication states that the professional journalist is not required to disclose his sources of information, “apart from the cases provided for by law.” This conditionality undermines the practice of protection of journalistic sources in Gabon. This is experienced every day in the field. Almost every time that a journalist appears before an administrative or security authority, he is required to identify his sources of information. A striking example concerns the journalist Jean De Dieu Bede, who was questioned and detained for several days by the Military Counter Intelligence Service. He was asked to reveal his source of information regarding a quarrel between the Minister of Defense and the Director of the Cabinet Office of the President of the Republic, information which he had published in his newspaper. In the absence of a law requiring the disclosure of sources, the authorities use various forms of intimidation. 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: 1.8 1.7 Public information is easily accessible, guaranteed by law, to all citizens. Gabon does legislation regarding the access of information by citizens. In the absence of such a law, state officials and other holders of public information do not feel obligated to disclose the information to a citizen seeking it. Even public institutions, in this case the State control and audit services, have difficulty accessing information. The ordinary Gabonese has no official information on sectors such as mining, oil, forestry and certain large markets, sectors that are classified as confidential. The Gabonese public space is characterized by a lack of transparency, to the point where Gabon has been excluded from the initiative for transparency in the extractive industries. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GABON 2016 71