SECTOR 2 2.10 Government does not use its power over the placement of advertisements as a means to interfere with editorial content. Due to the weak private sector, the state remains the largest source of advertising for Cameroonian media. «Using advertising Over the years, government has used this position to as a tool to control control media content. Even though there is no well stated policy on the distribution of state advertising, the press is so well public officials tend to give advertising to friendly organised that it is no news outlets and withdraw advertising from sources longer a scandal» of unfriendly press. Additionally, there have been cases where public officials have used their power to influence private advertising. An example of this is the former Minister of Finance Polycarpe Abah Abah, who is now in detention for the alleged embezzlement of state funds. He once bullied a private bank for using advertising to “sponsor” a newspaper that regularly criticising him. Subsequently, the bank cancelled its advertising contract with the paper. “Using advertising as a tool to control the press is so well organised that it is no longer a scandal,’ one panellist said. 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: 1.7 (2008 = 1.5) 2.11 The advertisement market is large enough to support a diversity of media outlets. It is difficult to estimate the size of the advertising market in Cameroon. Several years ago, a private study estimated that the audiovisual advertising sector was worth 9 billion francs CFA (about US $19.95 million) annually. There is no reliable estimate for the print sector. However, the advertising market in Cameroon is 86 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER CAMEROON 2011