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: 3.8 (2010:3.8; 2008:3.3; 2006:3.1) 4.8 Equal opportunities, regardless of race or ethnicity, social group, gender/sex, religion, disabilities and age are promoted in media houses. The panel agrees that there is no ad hoc policy or operational mechanism designed to promote equality of opportunity within press companies. Nonetheless, as a general rule, this equality really does exist and recruitment is “blind”. Yet, according to a widely held perception, the public press – the hierarchy in the Radiodiffusion télévision sénégalaise (RTS), in particular – is dominated by individuals from the ethnic groups and regions of origin of the President of the Republic and certain other authorities. In the same way, it is often thought that the directors of the national press companies are appointed at the proposal of the political or governmental leaders, who ensure that their relatives are selected, on the basis of affinities as subjective as ethnicity, sex and political affiliation. The same criteria seem to hold for the recruitment of advisers and press officers in the administrations and in that of journalists within the newsrooms of the public media, in contempt of the criteria set by the collective agreement. Even in the private press, a strong concentration of members of the same ethnic group across the whole value chain is felt. The monopoly held by the members of a single family over newspaper distribution is an example. One member of the panel wished however to bring this into perspective in the following terms: “the perception may be wrong, but it exists”. Another panellist advised that “it is a complex and sensitive subject”, before urging the panel and public opinion, especially the intellectuals, not to fall into the cliché trap. According to another view, it is more a matter of political power stakes than of domination by an ethnic group. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SENEGAL 2013 121