SECTOR 3 In contesting the caliber of personnel proposed by HAAC and more particularly the person HAAC wanted to impose on board, they had to resort to the Constitutional Court3. his is how the Court, in giving its judgment, had to emphasize the fact that HAAC’s role was to propose the names but not to choose the person. HAAC was then obliged to rerun the process and the paradox is that the outgoing MD whose name was not on the irst list of proposals was eventually the only unopposed candidate and he was therefore conirmed. 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: 1.4 (2007 = n/a ; 2009 =1.1) 3.7 The state/public broadcaster is adequately funded in a manner that protects it from arbitrary interference through its budget and from all commercial pressure. he public broadcaster (ORTB) is partly funded by the state with an annual subsidy of 20 million CFA and this gives the state the right to monitor its operations. In addition to this however, ORTB always makes requests for a lot more money apart from the supplementary assistance it gets especially during the electoral period or when a development project is being pursued. here is an on-going project to extend the nation-wide coverage resulting in the addition of 20 billion francs to the resources of ORTB. Apart from the subsidies, the State takes care of the water, electricity and telephone bills (Benin Water & Electricity Company) of ORTB as well as the debts of the state broadcaster. It is therefore not surprising that there is a constant interference 3 Anyone can appeal to the Constitutional Court besides electoral matters. 108 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER BENIN 2011