CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION The practice of journalism is an area of concern. The quality of journalism seems to be dropping due to poor working conditions, job precarity, poor training, low pay, and weak representation through professional and labour unions. These factors push journalists to abandon key social stories and to extort money to cover stories. In countries such as South Africa, junior journalists are preferred in place of experienced ones to cut costs, lowering the quality of content. Furthermore, the ethics problem is recurring, with some AMBs indicating gaps in the availability and implementation of both internal and field codes of ethics. The AMBs indicate that most African countries have fallen behind in providing adequate regulation of digital media. They also highlight a tendency towards potential infringement of citizens’ rights through provisions for the interception of communication between individuals, where laws that speak to digital media have been broached. Most recommendations in respect of each of these elements emphasise the role of civil society in lobbying and partnering with key stakeholders, including the media and state functionaries, in pursuit of reforms and interventions that are useful in mitigating the highlighted challenges. It is imperative to acknowledge that the African Media Barometer is an indispensable tool for evaluating the state of the media as a key oversight "... the African Media Barometer is an indispensable tool for evaluating the state of the media..." functionary of democratic politics, processes and institutions in each African country. It provides a comprehensive continental understanding of contemporary challenges faced by the media in terms of specific key indicators and recommendations. Country-specific recommendations and evaluations are vital given the differences in socio-political and cultural experiences, realities and histories between countries. The AMB also allows us to trace progress regarding recommendations made to specific recurrent and emerging challenges and to think about necessary interventions to promote a free press and access to information in the future. It is also imperative to evaluate the AMB’s impact on policy reforms and the democratic enhancement of the media space in Africa. This requires engagement with policymakers and other stakeholders to understand whether and how their policy-making decisions are shaped, not just by the AMB itself but by other sources of information and ideas informed by the data and information contained in the AMBs. 50 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER 11 YEARS IN REVIEW