trade unions. These are either barely mentioned, or totally ignored. For example, while the recent trade union strike was on, RTG radio broadcast music, and the television news carried items on some insignificant incidents that had occurred on the outskirts of Conakry, while a person had in fact been killed. In addition, a government-ordered editorial entitled “War has been declared against the trade union” was read on air under the supervision of the Minister of Communication who was present in the studio. 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: 2.0 (2008 = n/a ; 2006 = n/a) 4.6 Owners of established mainstream private media do not interfere with editorial independence. Private media owners do influence the content of their newspapers, depending on their economic interests. At times journalists find it hard to recognise their own articles in print, because they have not only been corrected, but sometimes edited in a way that totally distorts their original message. Broadcasters are also very careful to ensure that what they broadcast does not hurt ethnic or religious sensitivities. A new phenomenon is the increasing number of businessmen and politicians who become operators of broadcasting services. But even where radio stations are managed by professionals, some panelists expressed serious doubts about their editorial independence. That said, the interference of private media owners in editorial decisions remains reasonably low and is the subject of discussion in the news rooms. This, of course, does not apply to those operations where the owner doubles up as publisher and editor-in-chief. Such newspapers do exist. 114 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GUINEA 2011