SECTOR 4 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: 1.5 (2006 = 2.0; 2008 = 1.5) 4.6 Owners of established mainstream private media do not interfere with editorial independence. As indicated above, many owners of private media, be they politicians or economic operators, routinely infringe on the editorial independence of their outlets. Very often, it is the CEO of the group who edits reports and decides on what is to be published and what is not. Editorial teams, including the editor-in-chief, do not always seem willing to defend their editorial independence. They are themselves reprimanded when an article that does not conform to the political views of the media owner is published and they also fear for their jobs. This affects the content of news reports and coverage generally as well as the manner in which communiqués, press materials and other documents are processed. In most cases they will be relayed to the public only if they are in line with the newspaper’s editorial stance. However, a panel member stated that when journalists do take the time to explain the editorial team’s point of view and the importance of editorial independence to media owners, the latter sometimes listen and take this into consideration. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MADAGASCAR 2010 119