African Media Barometer SENEGAL 2013 Summary Immediately after the second round of the 2012 presidential elections, a broad consensus was reached in hailing the victory of democracy. After 12 years in power, President Wade was beaten in the March 2012 elections by his former Prime Minister and former speaker of the National Assembly, Macky Sall, swept in by a wave of popular appeal for change, backed by his ‘Macky 2012’ movement and the Benno Bokk Yakar coalition in the second round. However, the triumph of democracy was by no means easily achieved. During the first round, a dozen people were reported killed and hundreds injured, apart from victims of torture, arbitrary detention or stigmatisation. The freedom of expression thus came up against enormous obstacles, particularly intimidation and pressure to distort information. Despite the legal recognition of the freedom of expression by the Constitution of 2001 – particularly in the preamble referring to the international legal instruments of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the constitutional corpus, in particular Title II and its Articles 8, 10, 11 and 14 – there are, in practice, facts which contrast with the theory, especially during the electoral period and with regard to the coverage of certain sensitive subjects. Senegal has brought in major democratic reforms over the years. The development of the media during the last thirty years has seen the birth of every kind of communication channel. Radio remains the true mass medium with the proliferation and considerable development of community radio (more than 30 stations) with numerous broadcasts in local languages throughout the country. The RTS (Senegalese Radio-Television) which had a monopoly since 1973, today has to reckon with ever more competitive private television channels such as 2STV, RDV, Walf TV, TFM, LCS, SEN TV, as well as religious channels like Touba TV, Lampfall TV and Mourchid TV. Indeed, the 2001 Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression it its Article 8. The absence of legislation on access to information in Senegal constitutes a legal brake on the full development of certain rights which are nonetheless explicitly enshrined. Senegal has a gap to fill from this point of view, for even if Article 8 of the Constitution guarantees the right to plural, inclusive information, access to information is not formally enshrined in any specific legislation. The government, in consultation with civil society, had committed itself in 2011 to adopt a legal framework guaranteeing effective access to information. This has been reiterated by the new government put in place by the 2012 elections. 70 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SENEGAL 2013