The African Media Barometer (AMB) he African Media Barometer (AMB) is an in-depth and comprehensive description and measurement system for national media environments on the African continent. Unlike other press surveys or media indices the AMB is a selfassessment exercise based on homegrown criteria derived from African Protocols and Declarations like the “Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa” (2002) by the “African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights” (ACHPR)1. he instrument was jointly developed by fesmedia Africa, the Media Project of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Africa, and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in 2004. he African Media Barometer is an analytical exercise to measure the media situation in a given country which at the same time serves as a practical lobbying tool for media reform. Its results are presented to the public of the respective country to push for an improvement of the media situation using the AUDeclaration and other African standards as benchmarks. he recommendations of the AMB-reports are then integrated into the work of the 19 country oices of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in sub-Sahara Africa and into the advocacy eforts of other local media organizations like the Media Institute of Southern Africa. Methodology and Scoring System Every two to three years a panel of 10-12 experts, consisting of at least ive media practitioners and ive representatives from civil society, meets to assess the media situation in their own country. For 1 1/2 days they discuss the national media environment according to 45 predetermined indicators. he discussion and scoring is moderated by an independent consultant who also edits the AMB- report. After the discussion of one indicator panel members allocate their individual scores to that respective indicator in an anonymous vote according to the following scale: 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 1 he ACHPR is the authoritative organ of the African Union (AU) mandated to interpret the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 66 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER BENIN 2011