SECTOR 2 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: 3.5 2.6 Government promotes a diverse media landscape with economically sustainable and independent media outlets. As part of its post conflict take-off, Congo has unveiled a development plan that is running from 2012 to 2016. The plan covers most sectors of the society, except the media. The absence of media development in the plan indicates the subaltern perception of the media by authorities. As such, the country has no clear media development policy or a statutory provision for media subventions. The texts of application of several legal provisions that could have enhanced the media environment have not been signed. A good example is the law regulating the delivery of broadcast licenses, which has never been rendered operational. Newspapers have been hardest hit by the “difficult” media landscape. Many of the country’s publications have folded up because of their precarious economic conditions. Official records show that the country has more than 50 newspapers, but only about 20 are regular. Even then, most are printed on a few pages and in black and white. The country’s only daily hardly maintains a print run of 2,500. “There is a tendency to leave newspapers to die.” Even the state-owned media are suffering. Authorities recently slashed the budget of the national radio and television by eliminating investment allocations which represent about 30 per cent of their annual budgets. Without an autonomous budget, the state-owned media depend on the ministry of communication, which often has different priorities. 92 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 2013