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In his speech the Regional Director, commended the sacrifices made by journalists media organizations and communities in defending media and freedom of expression rights, often under serious threats.

He noted with concern the deterioration and regression of media freedom throughout the region in particular Swaziland , Lesotho, Angola and Zimbabwe. “The southern Africa envisaged in the Windhoek Declaration of 1991 is a far cry from the arrests, beatings, torture and detention of journalists and the general repression of free of expression that are characteristic of Zimbabwe and the region today.”

Of the 181 alerts issued in the year under review 57 where from Zimbabwe with Lesotho following closely. Tanzania recorded the least violations
Mr Kandjii also pointed to a further deterioration in the relationship between governments and the media. “This bad relationship is demonstrated through threats made on journalists and media organizations, the enactment of unfriendly media laws and the increase defamation case against the media” stressing that nearly every media organization in the region had at least one or multiple court cases against them. “Some journalists spend more time in courts of law than in the news room, the Times of Swaziland has no less than five court cases running concurrently, while one Malawian journalist has more than 30 court cases some going back as far as 2000.”

MISA was among the more than 150 media organizations and professions to adopt the Maputo Declaration, which emphasizes the importance of freedom of expression and free access to information for participatory democracy. The declaration a result of a two-day conference convened by UNESCO under the theme “Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Empowerment of People”.

The Declaration further calls on member States To create an environment which promotes the development of legislation which guarantees the peoples right to access information. The declaration further promotes the development “all three tiers of broadcasting and, in particular, to improve conditions for the development of community media and for the participation of women within the community media framework". To read the Declaration please go to : http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=42324&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC
& URL_SECTION=201.html

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.phpURL_ID=42324&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&
URL_SECTION=201.html

The recipient of the 2008 World Press Freedom Award was Mexican freelance investigative journalist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, whose work has uncovered the involvement of businessmen, politicians and drug traffickers in prostitution and child pornography. The prize giving ceremony was attended by among others Mozambican President Armando Guebuza , UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Abdul Waheed Khan, and representatives from the Ottawa and Cano foundations sponsors of the USD 25,000 prize.

Thanks to MISA-Mozambique for all their tireless efforts in organizing the launch and ensuring that MISA be included in the official UNESCO progam. Back