Photo © Sipho Futshane / PictureNET Africa “ Asking the media to become fully-fledged development partners by the same people who oppress and harass them, is simply, as a matter of ordinary political common sense, asking too much. Unless governments respect the rights of free and independent media, there is little chance of the development agenda taking off in the way that it needs to ” Jeanette Minnie, at the Global Forum for Media Development conference in Amman, Jordan (October 1-3, 2005). 46