Mali
The African Media Barometer (AMB)
The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s Southern African Media Project took
the initiative together with the Media Institute for Southern Africa
(MISA) to start the African Media Barometer in April 2005, a self assessment exercise done by Africans themselves according to homegrown criteria. The project is the first in-depth and comprehensive
description and measurement system for national media environments on the African continent.
The benchmarks are to a large extend taken from the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)1 “Declaration of
Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa”, adopted in 2002.
This declaration was largely inspired by the groundbreaking conferences in Windhoek/Namibia on the “Independence of the Media”
(1992) and the “African Charter on Broadcasting” (2001).
By the end of 2007, 26 sub-Saharan countries have been covered
by the AMB. In 2007 those countries which started the exercise in
2005 were revisited providing for the first time comparable data to
measure developments in a country over a two-year period.
Methodology: A panel of experts is formed in each country, including representatives of media and civil society at large in equal
numbers. They are serving as panel members in their personal capacities, not as representatives of their respective organisations.
The panel should consist of not more than ten members. They will
meet bi-annually for two days retreats to go in a self-assessment
process through the indicators in a qualitative discussion and determine (quantitative) scores for each indicator. The meetings will
be chaired by an FES consultant to ensure comparable results. The
resulting reports are made public.

1
The ACHPR is the authoritative organ of the African Union (AU) mandated to interpret
the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights

2				

Le Baromètre des Média Africains - Mali 2008

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