There is low media coverage of transparency and accountability issues in Burkina Faso due to capacity gaps of journalists and limited access to information, a study conducted by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has established.
The study which is a baseline report on the level and quality of media coverage of transparency and accountability (T&A) issues in Burkina Faso monitored content of eight influential media outlets made up of three radio stations, two newspapers, two news websites and one TV station.
Across the selected radio stations, out of 39 programmes which were monitored, only five (13%) focused on transparency and accountability issues. The limited coverage was also observed on the selected news websites as only three (15%) out of 20 articles monitored focused on transparency and accountability issues.
The newspapers recorded a considerable high coverage of 49% while only 10% out of 17 programmes examined on the selected TV station focused on transparency and accountability issues.
The study further observed through interviews with key media personnel including editors and senior journalists in Burkina Faso that challenges such as gaps in training and capacity of journalists, limited access to information, poor professional ethics and economic setbacks in the media industry account for the low coverage of transparency and accountability issues.
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