SCORES:
Individual scores:
Average score:

2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2
1.9

Overall score for sector 1:

2.8

Sector 2: The media landscape is characterised by diversity,
independence and sustainability.
2.1 A wide range of sources of information (print, broadcasting, Internet)
is available and affordable to citizens.
ANALYSIS:
There is a plethora of publications: newspapers, radio stations and television channels. However, newspapers are not easily affordable. The two dailies cost 12,000 MZM (US$0.48) per
copy. The weeklies cost the equivalent of a loaf of South African bread or a beer. There are 12
newssheets distributed by fax but these are unaffordable for the general public – an annual
subscription can cost up to US$450.
Circulation is low for a population of about 18 million, of whom 45 percent are literate: Stateowned Notícias has an official circulation of 12,000, other newspapers cannot afford to increase their average circulation of 5,000.
Most of these publications are concentrated in urban areas and there is hardly any local publication in the rural areas.
Radio Mozambique claims to reach every nook and cranny of the country, but since the majority of the population is impoverished they find it hard to afford batteries for radios let alone
electricity, which means that accessibility is further limited. Commercial radio stations, being
based in urban areas, are too far from most people to have much of an impact in terms of a
wider audience.
SCORES:
Individual scores:
Average score:

2.2

2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 4, 2, 3, 3
2.2

Citizens’ access to domestic and international media sources is not
restricted by state authorities.

ANALYSIS:
Overall, citizens’ access to media is not limited, but there are subtle ways to control such
access. For example, a publisher offers free copies of his weekly to prisons. The officer in
charge of the jail reads the paper first before passing it on to inmates. Whenever there is
something he does not like, the paper is not distributed.
So This Is Democracy? 2005

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Media Institute of Southern Africa

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