Acknowledgements T his publication represents joint effort and in particular a collective input from various diverse media professionals and researchers in the SADC region. In the first instance we are deeply grateful to all the individual authors of the country media freedom and freedom of expression overviews for their thorough and insightful analyses. MISA’s national chapter Information and Advocacy Officers are the face of MISA at national level - most certainly to those persons who have fallen victim to media freedom and freedom of expression violations. These are staff members who go further than document violations, and in many instances offer much needed moral support to journalists. In 2006 for the first time, So This Is Democracy? includes the African Media Barometer (AMB) reports from six SADC countries, i.e. Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia. The AMB, developed by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and jointly implemented in SADC by FES and MISA, is the first in-depth and comprehensive description and measurement system for national media environments on the African continent. Whereas MISA’s traditional monitoring sheds light on the number, context and nature of violations of media freedom and freedom of expression, the AMB provides insight into civil society perception of media freedom, media content and professionalism. The AMB is a groundbreaking initiative and presents powerful lobbying tools. We therefore have to say “thank you” to FES for considering MISA as its natural implementing partner in SADC region. Also, a special word of thanks to Sarah Taylor for sharing her excellent copy-editing skills, and Jerry dos Santos who coordinated the translation of portions of this booklet into Portuguese. Furthermore, we wish to express sincere appreciation to all our partner organisations and donors who continue to contribute to the publishing of this annual booklet. As always, we must acknowledge and express gratitude to the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) in Toronto, Canada, which ensures that violations recorded by MISA in southern Africa receive maximum exposure in the international community and in doing so, allow for rapid, world-wide and coordinated response to media freedom and freedom of expression violations. So This Is Democracy? 2005 -3- Media Institute of Southern Africa