SECTOR 1 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: 4.9 (2010:4.8; 2008:n/a; 2006:n/a) 1.6 Confidential sources of information are protected by law and/or the courts. The panel comments that the law theoretically protects information sources, in particular through Article 35 of Law 96-04 of 22 February 1996: “the journalist or media technician is bound by professional secrecy as provided for in Article 363 of the Penal Code. He/she may not divulge sources of information obtained confidentially”. But in reality this protection is circumvented by the judges via the charge of concealment of an administrative document and by reversing the burden of proof, particularly in defamation suits. In support of this argument, a panellist cites the case of the lawsuit between the journalist Abdoulatif Coulibaly, then publication manager of the investigative magazine La Gazette,5 and the former special adviser to the President of the Republic in matters of information and communications technology, Thierno Ousmane Sy, with regard to the sale of the third mobile telephone licence to the Sudanese operator Sudatel, under the brand name Expresso. 5 Appointed Minister in charge of good governance in the government of Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye, http://www. seneweb.com/news/Communique/video-voici-la-composition-du-gouvernement-du-29-octobre-2012_n_79987. html / http://www.gouv.sn/-Le-Gouvernement-.html AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SENEGAL 2013 79