Follow up questions I- What were the developments in the media environment in the last two/three years? An analysis of the media environment shows that many changes have taken place between 2009 and 2011. Some were positive developments: • • • • e exponential growth in the number of papers all through the long electoral period in Benin. e establishment of information formats by the Beninese in the diaspora and even the natives, the placement of TV on satellite have resulted in diversity in the supply of information on the Benin market and competition between the media houses. ere has been an increase in the number of schools now running courses in journalism. HAAC has been reinforced due to the fact that Constitutional Court had to contact it for input in the heat of elections even before it gave its pronouncements on the situation. Other situations show the need for a drastic improvement and this can be seen in the following: • • • • • • e way in which national television is handled by the executive. e long election period (municipal, legislative and presidential) and the emergence of new bodies which are recruiting journalists with very low levels of qualiication. e increasingly precarious conditions of work that journalists have to manage (non-adherence to collective agreement). e loss of ethical values as a result of the trivialization of corruption by the media houses themselves, civil society and the political class. Since no new frequencies have been allocated over the past three years it has given rise to oligopoly in the media which is controlled by the few in the business. e practice of instead using issuing contracts in the information sector between the state, business owners and the media. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER BENIN 2011 129