SECTOR 2 2.3 Efforts are undertaken to increase the scope of circulation of the print media, particularly to rural communities. While distribution challenges in urban areas are huge, they are even more so in rural areas. The lack of means of communication and means of distribution diminishes all efforts. Newspapers struggle to reach their readers and the introduction of a courier service for four newspapers and the collaboration with NGOs allows to – more or less – work around newspaper distribution challenges. This has an effect on newspapers whose highest print runs never exceeds 5000. There is no professional distribution circuit for newspapers or courier services to speak of. Solutions are devised according to the premise of the “logic of every man/woman for him/herself” in order to on the one hand face up to the rise of photocopy newspapers (with limited success) and on the other hand to deal with the hostility of certain local authorities towards titles that are viewed as too critical. The Internet seems to be offering an alternative for areas such as Kivu (in the east of the country) where access to the airport is difficult. Online newspapers hence find readers here. It is noteworthy to mention that newspapers’ business rationale is such that their production targets readers with purchasing power. Efforts made to broaden newspaper readership do not particularly target rural communities, except in the case of subscriptions by certain companies such as Gecamines9. In Matadi, the centre of the Lower Congo region in the West, a private body has invested in the distribution of newspapers published in Kinshasa in order to make them available to readers every day from 1pm. 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: 9 90 1.5 The société Générale des carrières et mines, a State mining company based in Lubumbashi AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Democratic Republic of Congo