FOTP 2013 Full Report

percent is produced locally. The state’s history of monopolizing broadcast communications hasprevented the development of community radio, although an advocacy movement begun in 2003has resulted in signs of support from the government. Licensing fees and taxes for broadcastmedia remain high, and many outlets experience financial difficulties, limiting their viability.The only two nationwide broadcast networks are state-owned: the Federal Radio Corporation ofNigeria and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). However, in 2010 the NBC awarded thefirst private radio and television network license to Silverbird Communications, which hadoutbid two other private competitors for the licenses. A 2004 NBC ban on the live broadcast offoreign programs, including news, on domestic stations remains in force. Nevertheless, foreignbroadcasters, particularly Voice of America and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), arekey providers of news in the country.The internet has also become an increasingly important news source in recent years, andapproximately 33 percent of the population accessed the medium in 2012.Bribery and corruption remain problems in the media industry, particularly in the form of“brown envelopes,” or small cash gifts that sources give journalists. A 2009 survey of 184 mediaprofessionals in Lagos found that 61 percent of them habitually received brown envelopes whileon reporting assignments. However, 74 percent of the respondents disagreed that the gifts led tobiased coverage, perhaps because the practice is so common.North KoreaStatus: Not FreeLegal Environment: 30Political Environment: 37Economic Environment: 29Total Score: 96Survey Edition 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012Total Score, Status 98,NF 98,NF 99,NF 97,NF 97,NFNorth Korea remained one of the most repressive media environments in the world in 2012. Theone-party regime owns all domestic news outlets, attempts to regulate all communication, andrigorously limits the ability of the North Korean people to access outside information. Althoughthe constitution theoretically guarantees freedom of speech, constitutional provisions calling foradherence to a “collective spirit” restrict in practice all reporting that is not sanctioned by thegovernment. All domestic journalists are members of the ruling party, and all media outlets serveas mouthpieces for the regime. The North Korean media have continued to focus their attentionon consolidating national unity around Kim Jong-un, who assumed the country’s leadership afterthe death of his father and predecessor, Kim Jong-il, in December 2011.Under the penal code, listening to unauthorized foreign broadcasts and possessingdissident publications are considered “crimes against the state” that carry serious punishments,including hard labor, prison sentences, and the death penalty. North Koreans have been arrestedfor possessing or watching television programs acquired on the black market. Nevertheless, inrecent years there has been an increase in the flow of news and information into the country viaforeign radio stations and nongovernmental organizations that send multimedia content across292