SECTOR 2 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: 2.2 2.5 Adequate competition legislation/regulation seeks to prevent media concentration and monopolies. The Freedom of the Mass Media and Access to Information Proclamation of 2008 contains precise regulations for “Mass Media Ownership”. Article 7 (1) states in regard to broadcasting: Any person who exercises direct or indirect effective control over a company possessing a nation-wide broadcasting license or a broadcasting license for an area with a recorded population of more than 100,000 inhabitants, may not exercise direct or indirect effective control over another company holding such a license and servicing the same or an overlapping market. The same restrictions apply to periodicals, which are defined as newspapers and magazines. Sub-article 4 defines “effective control” as holding “directly or indirectly … fifteen percent or more of the shares or capital of the entity.” In effect, these provisions mean that no person can run more than one magazine or newspaper, for example. This, no doubt, does prevent media concentration and monopolies. However, some members of the panel criticised the provisions for being too strict, out of proportion for a sector which is considered to be still in its infancy, and thus preventing the emergence of a vibrant media industry. It was argued that the government introduced these restrictions in order to divide the media into small entities which would not be too powerful for their liking. 30 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ETHIOPIA 2010