SECTOR 3 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: 1.2 3.5 The editorial independence of the state/public broadcaster from political influence is guaranteed by law and practised to ensure balance and fair news and current affairs programmes. Legally, a journalist can refuse an assignment that he/she finds contradictory to the general principle of the news media he/she works for as stipulated in the work contract17. If the journalist works for the public media and belongs to the civil service, the law says the journalist is obliged to exercise “impartiality in the exercise of his/her profession.” But the practice resembles none of these guarantees. Both editorial and management staff of the state broadcaster are forced to “toe the line drawn by political and public authorities”. It is common for editors and senior editorial members of staff to publicly say they are answerable to the president or minister who appoints them and would do as those public officials say. It is also frequent for them to block programming and reporting that does not favour the authorities or show them in a negative light. Receiving instructions and directive from a public official on how a story should be reported is both common and widespread. In the worst scenario, public media journalists are forced to edit sound and footage in a way that distort the news in favour of the government narrative. Increasingly, military personnel are being posted to take up editorial positions in the public broadcaster. 108 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 2013