In its efforts to monitor and expose media freedom violations, MISA has over the years developed strong ties with important regional and international partner organisations that have provided support, exchange of ideas and solidarity. Many media freedom organisations hail MISA's success in the field and rely on MISA for the action alerts it issues. Breakdown of the types of media freedom violations per country Number fo alerts by country (Jan 2003 - Dec 2003) 120 100 Angola 80 Botswana Lesotho Malawi Mozambique 60 Namibia South Africa Swaziland 40 Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe 20 0 1 Monitored countries MISA Information Officers report media freedom and freedom of expression abuses to its regional secretariat which, in turn, circulates this information to MISA members, organisations and other subscribers around the world through its mailing lists. This efficient system enables members to stay abreast of media activities, more especially violations of the rights of journalists in 11 SADC countries. An important aspect of MISA’s Action Alert Network is its membership to IFEX which links freedom of expression groups around the world. Through its linkage with IFEX MISA ensures that its alerts – and therefore its monitoring work – receive international exposure. MISA issued 188 alerts in 2003 about media freedom and freedom of expression violations in 10 SADC countries. The countries monitored are Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimba bwe. Although this figure (188) marks a decrease of 9,7 percent from the previous year, the nature of alerts and their bearing on the psyche of journalists have culminated into an environment in which journalists practice self-censorship, where media organisations are either closed down by governments through the application of repressive legislation or as a result of degenerating economic conditions and where the pursuit of independent journalism is often labelled as unpatriotic”’. MISA Annual Report (April 2003 – March 2004) 34