SECTOR 2 2.11 The country has a coherent ICT policy and/or the government implements promotional measures which aim to meet the information needs of all citizens, including marginalised communities The Information Society Policy, Mozambique’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) policy, was approved at the beginning of 2018 as an update to the existing ICT policy (Política de Informática) effective since 2000. In 2005, the country assumed the commitment of the ITU to make universal access to ICTs possible by 2015. However, according to the panellists, this remains an illusion. While it is true that in terms of policies the situation is at an acceptable level, the problem has been the translation of these policies into concrete plans of action (duly budgeted for) so that the desired changes can take effect. 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: Score of previous years: ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓ ✓✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ 2.4 2005=n/a; 2007=n/a; 2009=4.6; 2011=4.0; 2014=3.1 2.12 Government does not use its power over the placement of advertisements as a means to interfere with editorial content There was consensus that there is no evidence of the existence of a government order as such to associate the placement of public advertising with interference in the editorial content of the media, but it seems that there is a surreptitious order (not formally constituted but used in that sense) at least by some of the public managers and other bureaucrats with some influence or decision-making power about the placement of public announcements. However, in a context where the government as the constitutional holder of the initiative of law does nothing to regulate public advertising, it ends up being liable for the current state of affairs, even if only by omission. In truth, people who may be acting subtly in this regard – possibly under the aegis of the ruling party – may not be entirely unknown to the government. 31 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MOZAMBIQUE 2018