advertising rates than the commercial broadcasters. The Daily News with an estimated printrun between 60 and 70,000 is distributed for free and also charges lower rates than the private media, which means that it is undercutting their advertising market. This is exacerbated by the fact that the Daily News does not collect advertising revenue efficiently. There has been an attempt to increase collection by demanding payment upfront. This has affected smaller advertising agencies in particular who do not have a large enough revenue base to afford this kind of payment. As a result more work has moved to larger advertising agencies, closing out the up-and-coming new ones. The private media could – ironically – benefit from government’s demand for payment upfront. They also have a competitive edge over the state-controlled media which lack credibility. The new national private radio stations expected to be licensed soon will probably increase competition for the commercialized government radio station. The market will eventually determine what will happen. Overall, there is no political will on the part of the government to improve the existing media environment. This can be attributed to mistrust of the private media on the part of politicians. Government is not giving any consideration to the support of small and struggling media as is being done in South Africa, for example, through the Media Diversity Development Agency. The proposed broadcasting policy suggests that a fund be set up to help the independent broadcasting sector to survive. At present CEDA provides relatively cheap loans to the independent media. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 2.10 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2 2.0 (2005 = 1.2) Private media outlets operate as efficient and professional businesses. ANALYSIS: Most private media outfits are operating efficiently and as professional businesses. In the print sector, compared to the poor quality of the government news products, standards are high and this has enabled private papers to retain their share of the market. The quality of radio programming seems to have gone down in order to control operating costs. There has been increased diversification, especially in the telecommunications (e.g. headline news via SMS) and local music sectors. However, these have been increases in volume mostly while quality often is not yet up to scratch. Generally, the private media outlets do not have any choice but to operate efficiently if they are to continue to survive in a small market. All media houses are trying hard to diversify sources of revenue instead of depending on advertising only. In the future they will need to invest more to keep their businesses afloat. More market research is needed in order to establish whether pricing levels are competitive. They could also do more to train their own people in management and leadership and become more creative in developing their production and editorial capacity. So This Is Democracy? 2007 -159- Media Institute of Southern Africa