SECTOR 1 even though media practitioners complain of its propensity to inflict sanctions on them. Hence it has been nicknamed ‘the Hatchet’. The public broadcaster does not have a board of directors but is part of the administration. A bill is being drafted to change it to an Office. In the meanwhile, the public broadcaster has no real editorial independence. He has no financial independence and depends entirely on the Public Treasury. And this has a negative impact on the quality of the programmes. Diversification is also problematic due to a lack of resources. However, there is a desire to take the regions into account by airing local programmes. Civil society complains about the fact that journalists do not respect accuracy and equity. It considers that the press is overly influenced by political parties and does not take the trouble to verify the facts before publishing them. Corrections are rarely published and even the right to reply is not always respected, although the Press Code and the Organic Law establishing the HAAC have made it compulsory for the media to publish such replies. Although there is a Code of Ethics, most media practitioners are unaware of it, and hence do not comply with it. In fact, most of them only discover it when they are brought before the Observatoire Togolais des Medias (OTM - a media observatory body) which was set up by this Code. The OTM can impose penalties that have an impact on the distribution of the aid allocated to press agencies by the State. Togolese journalists are poorly paid. Indeed, they should not even be called wages, because a junior reporter working in the private media earns on average CFA francs 5,000 (USD 10) per completed issue. The monthly salary of the Chief Editor is approximately CFA francs 75,000 (USD 150). There is no insurance and very few journalists are enrolled in the social security system. The Togolese media are grouped into several associations and unions. But they are very ineffective because few of their members pay their contributions. Even though membership fees only amount to CFA francs 500 per year (USD 1). In such a context, corruption is widespread among media practitioners. A person invited to speak on the radio or television may be asked to leave money for the presenters in order to “support” them. Any organisation that requests media coverage of its events, has to provide transport for the journalists and then pay them for having covered the event. Self-censure is a common practice in the Togolese media. It is often justified by the fear of getting into trouble and/or the journalists’ social responsibility. There are training institutions for journalists in Togo. Institutions such as the HAAC, sometimes endeavour to provide ongoing training for journalists. But there is no discernible impact on the quality of the production as journalists who have been trained often leave the profession and turn to better paid jobs. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER TOGO 2017 65