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: 2.5 2.8 All media fairly reflect the voices of society in its ethnic, linguistic, religious, political and social diversity. The Congolese society is characterised by numerous pockets of minority groups: ethnic, religious and linguistic. But the most prominent is the political minority. In general, the ruling party dominates the public media and little or no room is given to the opposition. Some opposition supporters are afraid to speak in the media because of a “high level” of political intolerance that prevails in the country. Congo is a secular state and thus tolerates a large spectrum of religious beliefs. This religious diversity is reflected in the media, with airwaves given to Christian and Muslim groups alike. Some religious groups own their own television channels and radio stations and broadcast freely. The Catholic and Protestant churches have newspapers in addition to broadcast services. Some religious groups buy space on television and radio to increase their reach. There is a large number of programmes in local languages, especially the two national languages Lingala and Kituba12. But the ratio of local languages13 in the media is small, compared to the domineering character of French, the official language. Because journalists and editors consider minority issues to be bland subjects, they make no efforts to cover these areas. Across the media landscape, there is a visible lack of in-depth reporting on minority issues. “The best they can do is to cover an event, but beyond that there is no investigation or in-depth treatment of 12 Répertoire des Médias (presse écrite, industries graphiques et presse audiovisuelle) de la République du Congo 13 Extrait du Code de procédures pénales au Congo AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 2013 95