2013 WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY O n 3 May each year, MISA joins the international community in celebrating the work of journalists and the important role the media plays in giving citizens access to news and information, which helps them make informed choices and live meaningful lives. We celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom, evaluate the state of media freedom in the southern African region, defend the media from attacks on their independence and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives for simply doing their jobs. In 2013, MISA Chapters reached a variety of audiences including journalists, lawyers, youth, policy makers and academics with activities that advanced their national programme objectives and policy reform issues and complemented the 2013 UNESCO global theme: Safe to speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in all media. for increased public pressure on the Zimbabwean Government to urgently pursue democratic media reforms that would bring current media legislation and regulations in line with the country’s new constitution. Each year on World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) MISA also officially launches our annual publication, So This Is Democracy? State of media freedom in southern Africa and hosts the Judge John Manyarara Memorial Lecture. So This Is Democracy?: State of Media Freedom in southern Africa In 2013, the 2012 edition of So This Is Democracy? was produced and distributed across the southern African region and further abroad to media training institutions, governments and freedom of expression organisations and activists. Most, if not all, of the issues covered in the 2012 report carried forward to 2013, with a key issue continuing to be the safety and security (both offline and online) of journalists. MISA Zimbabwe, for example, held a two-day national conference themed: Media Reforms Now! The conference focused on campaigning World Press Freedom Day march, held by MISA Zimbabwe on 3 May 2013. Photo: MISA Zimbabwe images, 2013. 12 2013 Judge John Manyarara Memorial Lecture The Judge John Manyarara Memorial Lecture is held each year, in honour of Judge Manyarara, the founding Chairperson (1994 – 2000) of the MISA Trust Funds Board (TFB). Long-time media freedom activist Dr. Fidelis Edge Kanyongolo presented the 2013 lecture in Blantyre, Malawi on the topic: ‘The role of the judiciary in establishing a societal balance between media freedom and a person’s right to their reputation’. The audience included members of the judiciary, journalists, law students, media freedom activists and civil society representatives. Delivering the lecture in 2013 was personally significant for Dr. Kanyongolo, who said, “this is the year when I commemorate the 30th anniversary of the start of my 15-month detention without trial when I was a 20-year-old university student. My imagined crime was that I had exceeded the bounds of freedom of expression.” He said it was also a significant year for the lecture to be held in Malawi because it marked 20 years since “the decision of the country to replace the one-party dictatorship with a pluralistic democratic order which set the foundation for the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and press freedom that we enjoy today”. In his lecture, Dr. Kanyongolo said he wanted “to suggest a reflection of the role that courts can play in contributing to the protection of media freedom”. Dr. Kanyongolo’s lecture focused on how the judiciary: • protects media freedom within a media landscape of dynamic of changes; • adjudicates any conflict between media freedom and individual reputations; and • can use its adjudicatory role, especially in the context of defamation laws, to advance the cause of media freedom and freedom of expression. SUPPORTING JOURNALISTS UNDER FIRE M ISA supports victims of media freedom and freedom of expression violations with practical support and by conducting evidence-based research and monitoring to identify and publicise media freedom and freedom of expression violations. In 2013, MISA provided moral support to, and helped increase awareness of the violations against, journalists Nomawethu Solwandle and Njanji Chauke (South African Broadcasting Corporation), Absalom Kibanda (Tanzania Editors’ Forum), Anthony Masamba (Malawi Institute of Journalism), Thoko Chikondi (Nations Publications Limited), Bheki Makhubu (The Nation – Swaziland), Wilson Pondamali, Clayson Hamasaka and Thomas Zyambo (freelance – Zambia), Paul Pindani (freelance – Zimbabwe) Obey Manayiti (Newsday Zimbabwe), Dumisani Muleya and Owen Gagare (The Zimbabwe Independent). MISA joined a global coalition of NGOs petitioning the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights for leave to act as amicus curiae, or friends of the court in the case of Issa Lohé Konaté. Konaté, the editor of the Burkina Faso-based weekly L’Ouragan, was convicted of defaming local State Persecutor Placide Nikiéma, after he published two articles raising questions about alleged abuse of power by the prosecutor’s office. Konaté was sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined 4 million CFA francs (6,000 Euros) on 29 October 2012. MISA participated in the application based on its belief that criminal defamation and insult laws severely restrict the space within which civil society and the citizens of a country may question their government or advocate for human rights. 13