SECTOR 2 the subject.” Commercial imperatives and audience preferences force the media to pick content that is “relevant”. Other subjects are simply taboo. Homosexuality, for example, is not often discussed in the media. When it does come up, the tendency is to condemn the practice, which even journalists say is unacceptable in the cultural context of the country. Sometimes, the problem also comes from minority groups, which are often intimidated by the media. Some indigenous people, for example, would prefer people from a “more enlightened” ethnic group to speak on their behalf. Most people with physical handicap also shy away from the media. 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: 2.6 2.9 Media cover the full spectrum of economic, culture, political, social, national and local perspectives and conducts investigative stories. The Congolese media content is a mixed basket of diverse beats. Journalists consider covering political, social, economic, community and even cultural stories as routine assignments. But the newsroom decision-making process is often influenced by forces that may not be journalistic in nature. The result is that there is no equitable representation of all sectors of public life in the media. “The ordinary Congolese is hardly seen in the media”. Government-sponsored news events, for example, get most of space in newspaper columns and the airwaves. Institutional news, as they are called, are often difficult to separate from events of the ruling party, which also take up most of the space. On average, government and political stories make up as much as eight in every 96 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 2013