media freedom and free expression was undertaken. The compilation which will come out in book form began in August 2003 and was completed in March 2004. The book is due in June 2004. In Lesotho, MISA responded to increased usage of defamation laws against the media. Altogether six defamation cases were brought to the courts against local newspapers. For such a tiny media sector as Lesotho’s, six cases are excessive. Therefore, MISA launched a campaign to have defamation laws undergo a process of judicial review by the Law Reform Commission. Unfortunately, the Commission’s activity has been severely undermined by the departure of its professional staff. Such a situation at the Law Reform Commission will affect the campaign for review of not only the defamation laws but also antimedia laws in general. Another significant campaign has been the fight to have the Mass Media Bill being discarded by the Botswana government. The chapter launched a vigorous campaign to have government rescind its decision to introduce the Mass Media Bill in Parliament in 2003. A big success was achieved when MISA formed a strong lobbying alliance with civil society and joined in partnership with the new Press Council of Botswana. The chapter convened a big national conference on media laws for Botswana in August 2003. During this conference the Minister of Communications Science and Technology was forced to concede that the supposed draft Mass Media Bill which the government was spearheading was inappropriate and would probably not pass the test of either Botswana’s Vision 2016 principles or the provisions of the country’s Constitution on freedom of expression. The Bill was eventually shelved. Instead after this decision, the Botswana government put a request to MISA and its coalition partners to propose a legal framework for an adoption of a media law regime in Botswana. MISA also responded strongly to the usage of the Book Publishing Act in Tanzania that was used to ban the Dira newspaper. As part of its media law reform strategy, MISA is mounting a litigation challenge to the law. The process is with the courts, now. 4.4 Networking and Advocacy activities MISA is an advocacy organization that seeks to network with selected organizations and build strong linkages and solidarity to strengthen its campaign activities. For MISA to do effective lobbying and advocacy, it must be represented at various influential forums , events and gatherings. Within the region, MISA actively participated in the All Africa editors forum in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the meeting MISA raised, among others, issues of media freedom, media law reform, the ongoing repression which journalists are facing in Zimbabwe and the need for media houses and institutions to cooperate and so build a formidable force for positive change in the region. The annual World Press Freedom Day celebration remains as always an important opportunity for MISA’s advocacy work. In all, the organisation gears itself each year to produce its annual state of media freedom report (see Programme B). On this day MISA representative s make numerous presentations on media freedom and freedom of expression as well as the role of the media in building and consolidating democracy in the region. In March 2003 MISA rolled out a focused advocacy campaign on Zimbabwe. As part of the campaign MISA wrote protest letters and held discussions with senior government officials to MISA Annual Report (April 2003 – March 2004) 25