SCORES: Individual scores: 5, 4, 5, 2, 4, 4, 3, 3, 5 Average score: 3.9 3.3 The body regulates broadcasting in the public interest and ensures fairness and diversity of views broadly representing society at large. ANALYSIS: The Media Council (CCS) was established at a time when the country was making its transition to a multiparty system, when pluralism in the media itself was making its first steps. That is why this organ belongs to a reality that is out of step with the reality of Cape Verde today. Many provisions of the law that established it are outdated. In today’s reality, there are a number of issues that have to do with media regulation, but which cannot be addressed by the highly politicised CCS. This is the reason why there have been suggestions for the CCS to be abolished and replaced by another body that can serve the wider interests of Cape Verde’s society. SCORES: Individual scores: 1, 1, 1, 3, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2 Average score: 1.6 3.4 The body’s decisions on licensing in particular are informed by a broadcasting policy developed in a transparent and inclusive manner. ANALYSIS: There is a dispersion of competences in this sector in Cape Verde. - Licensing is done by a different body, which is not the CCS. Monitoring of license compliance falls under a different commission, which is appointed by government, and as such cannot be independent. - The public broadcasting media is largely unaccountable, with their accounts not having been audited for the past seven years, and the Public Accounts Office doing nothing to force them to comply. SCORES: Individual scores: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 Average score: 1.0 36