Democracy and the media: an indissociable pair, right? After all, can journalists truly train as professionals and can televisions prosper in a non-democratic institutional environment? On the flip side, how can a society rebuild itself and a demo-cracy become consolidated without the means of effective, accountable media? Because here at CFI we are aware of the stakes involved, we have decided to offer our partners the option of trai-ning modules focussing on the media coverage of electoral campaigns. We have organised a dozen training sessions: in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso and Benin, as you will see in this issue of FOCUS. These programmes, set up in partnership with national televisions, most often fulfil a specific request by the national authorities for media regulation. CFI celebrates the fact that the trust established with its professional partners now enables it, together with many others, to promote democracy today.

Jean Mino Managing director of CFI