SECTOR 2 2.12 Government does not use its power over the placement of advertisements as a means to interfere with editorial content. The ministerial departments and parastatal companies have large advertising budgets. The latter blatantly use their pivotal place in the advertising market to reward their friends in the media and punish those they consider their opponents. They are also trying to influence the editorial content of the media by granting or denying them advertising. After a series of reports on the poor quality of the supply of water and electricity, the offending company inundated TV+ with advertisements and the channel stopped reporting on these issues. 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 2.13 The advertising market is large enough to support a diversity of media outlets. The advertising market in Gabon is quite large. Le Meridien hotel, for example, has an annual advertising budget estimated at one billion CFA francs (US$ 1,739,290). All large multinationals based in Gabon spend a large amount on advertising and promotional material. Companies in the automotive, malting, mobile telephony, finance and banking sectors are the biggest advertisers in the country. In newspapers, full page advertising costs an average of 1.2 million CFA francs (US$ 2087) and can rise to two million CFA francs (US$ 3478) for the back cover. Nevertheless, the market remains very fragile. In the event of financial restructuring, it is generally the advertising budget that goes first. Sometimes advertisers suspend advertising in media which are too critical of the government in order to avoid problems with the authorities. 88 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GABON 2016