SECTOR 2 2.6 Government promotes a diverse media landscape with economically sustainable and independent media outlets. Cameroon has about 500 registered newspapers, though only about 20 are considered regular and respectable. Since 2000, when the audiovisual sector was liberalised, the number of radio and television stations has grown rapidly to more than 25 stations in 2011. In spite of this quantitative growth it is hard to say that the media outfits are sustainable and independent. Advertising is weak and media owners are often forced to lean towards political and other interest groups to stay on the market. The government introduced media subsidies amounting to 250 million francs CFA (approximately US $554,000) per year many years ago, but the effort is widely considered laughable as it is too small to make any significant contribution towards the sustainability of the media organs. Moreover, the media have to share the subsidy with printing presses, professional associations and cable distributors. According to one panellist, the “state subsidy is a move to give friendly media owners some pocket « state subsidy is a money, rather than any real attempt to make the media viable.” move to give friendly media owners some pocket money, rather than any real attempt to make the media viable. » Many in the industry believe only the ratification and implementation of the Florence Convention, which advocates for tax waivers for media inputs, can really make the media viable. But many also believe that the state would be reluctant to promote a viable media out of fear that a strong media would be a threat to its very existence. 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: 2.2 (2008 = n/a) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER CAMEROON 2011 83