Africa Media Barometer - An Analysis of Trends in AMBs for 28 Countries over 11 Years: 2011/2021

"News media and other forms of mediated expression play an essential role in the creation, sustenance, and progressive transformation of democratic and democratising societies."

This report offers an analysis of trends based on the Africa Media Barometer (AMB), an in-depth and comprehensive description system for national media environments in sub-Saharan Africa. The retrospective textual study, which looks at AMBs published between 2011 and 2021, provides a descriptive account of emerging and recurring trends and themes around positive developments and challenges and recurring recommendations emerging across the reports. According to the publishers, this trends analysis will be useful "for all stakeholders, including journalists, academics, civil society organisations, lawmakers and governments who wish to draw lessons from other African countries and juxtapose them with lessons from home to improve their media landscapes."

The AMB is a flagship project of fesmedia Africa, the regional media project of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Namibia. Developed in 2004 in partnership with the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the AMB is designed to monitor developments in the media and democratic processes at country and regional levels and to provide platforms and tools for dialogue among stakeholders. Its indicators are largely based on the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR). As explained in the report, "The AMB is a meta-evaluative tool which can be used to appraise the conditions within which the cogs and institutions of democracy operate on the African continent. This tool provides policymakers, the academe, civil society and other key social institutions with a reference point for reflecting on achievements and highlighting the challenges of the media in Africa. Given the central role of the media in building and sustaining democratic institutions, the AMB indicators relate to structures that can potentially restrict or enable the media's ability to perform its roles. These indicators include the state of freedom of expression, media diversity, media independence and sustainability, media regulation, media ethics, and the welfare of journalists" (see Related Summaries below for more information).

This report presents an analysis of trends across 68 AMBs covering 28 countries, with some countries having done multiple studies between 2011 and 2021 (in some cases, like Benin, up to four times). The purpose of the study is to take a closer look at developments at subregional and regional levels to understand commonalities and differences in the media landscapes of the different countries - in particular, the trends related to positive developments, challenges, and recommendations that have emerged out of the AMBs. As stated in the report, it seeks to provide "a bird's eye view of the recurrent and emerging challenges on the African media scene and positive developments, such as the enactment and implementation of progressive laws and policies, while considering their implications for the development of democracy on the continent."

Trends related to recurrent challenges in sub-Saharan African media environments include: reluctance by governments to enact access to information laws; political influence on the editorial aspects of state/public broadcasters and media regulatory bodies; retention and promulgation of restrictive laws; harassment of journalists; the marginalisation of women from leadership positions in the media and their negative representation in media content; poor working conditions and low salaries for journalists; weak representation of journalists; falling journalistic standards; and corruption in the media. Trends related to positive developments and progress can be seen in countries: where legal provisions have now been made for access to information (Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, and Nigeria); where several community radio stations have been licensed; where media diversity and pluralisation have been achieved to a significant degree; and where digital media are allowed to flourish with little hindrance.

The AMB reports show significant consistencies in the recommendations made, which are linked to the persistent and emerging challenges observed in the media environments across sub-Saharan African countries. They point in particular to the continued need: for a strong and influential civil society involved in improving the operations of journalistic organisations, and for developing an enabling and adaptive policy framework in sub-Saharan Africa.