5.1 Programme Objectives T he launch of the SADC Journalists Under Fire campaign on May 3 2003, saw MISA’s media freedom monitoring programme take on a holistic approach, i.e. the media freedom monitoring programme activities went beyond the mere issuing of an alert to put in place required strategies for advocacy, lobbying, research, training, information and, most importantly, a mechanism for direct and immediate practical support to victims of media freedom violations. The framework of the campaign was unveiled at the annual general meeting of MISA in September 2003 with the knowledge that the success of its implementation lies with MISA’s national chapters as they respond to the needs of their membership. It was further acknowledged that the programme had surpassed its immediate objectives as outlined in MISA’s Strategic Partnership Plan, April 2002- March 2005, and was directly responding to a deepening crisis in certain countries of the region, particularly Zimbabwe. Nonetheless, at the foundation of the campaign, as always, lies the daily media freedom monitoring and reporting activity. This is undoubtedly MISA’s flagship activity and one that informs its advocacy in other spheres of media la w reform, broadcasting diversity and issues of media accountability and professionalism. However, MISA has not yet achieved a fault -free monitoring system – some violations have fallen through the cracks, particularly in certain countries where MISA's presence has been weak. This is particularly true in relation to Angola where MISA is employing great effort to establish a presence. Therefore in 2003, the programme focussed almost exclusively on developing the different facets of the SADC Journalists Under Fire campaign at national, regional and international levels. Programme objectives for this period therefore included: • Improving reporting skills of media monitors (MISA information officers) See 4.4.1.1 • Establish monitoring guidelines and a more effective dissemination of action alerts See 4.4.1.1 • Provide background information, suggested actions, campaign material and website interactivity relating to media freedom violations. See 4.3.2 • Improve the advocacy component of Media Freedom Monitoring See 4.3.1 5.2 Media Freedom Monitoring A fundamental strategy of MISA's advocacy work in this programme is to monitor violations of media freedom and the right to information and expose the violations with the aim of galvanising support from national, regional and international organisations that support and fight for media freedom. Over the past ten years (since 1994) MISA has monitored and produced publications on media violations. MISA's alert system has developed from a simple fax produced and distributed from the Secretariat in Windhoek to a more advanced system that in 2002 and 2003 included interactive options to rally support through petitions and letters on the MISA website. MISA Annual Report (April 2003 – March 2004) 33