SECTOR 4 The media practise high levels of professional standards. 4.1 The standard of reporting follows the basic principles of accuracy and fairness. The norm in journalism should be to respect the basic principles of accuracy and equity. But this is not the case in Côte d’Ivoire. It sometimes requires reading several newspapers and crosschecking with other news sources before understanding the full story. The news is not always accurate. Oftentimes, the headline of a newspaper story is very different from its contents. As an example, a civil society member panellist shared the case of news of a transvestite, while it should have been based on the results of an enquiry on “domestic girls”. The news is also politically orientated, so much so that a panellist declared that for a while now, she only reads newspapers that are not backed by a political party. One panellist provided the example of 2010, when President Bédié collapsed during a political rally. There were as many versions of what happened as newspapers for sale. Citizens were obliged to call the National Press Council in order to establish the truth. From 2012 to 2016, during the socio-political crisis period, there was a high pitch in the tone of the discourse since the newspapers sided with the fights of politicians. 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: 102 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Côte d’Ivoire 2016 1.9 (2012 = 1.8, 2009 = 1.9)