Not surprisingly, the Zimbabwe panelists reported on the “fear factor”: “The fear factor is always there - and it is increasing, particularly in the public sphere. Government is determined, to the point of obsession, to increasingly control what people say and do … If Zimbabweans say something outside the country presumed to be critical of government, the net could be closing in on them and their passport may be seized”. South Africans are expressing themselves freely – or so we assume. The revelation in the South African AMB report that there are powerful pockets of fear regarding freedom of expression: political, geographical, institutional and personal, in South Africa was therefore quite an eye-opener. It concludes that such fear results in self-censorship for fear of being labeled, isolated or cut off from resources. None of the countries under review have a media landscape that rated as predominantly free and independent. In southern Africa, South Africa came closest to this standard. For the rest, a lack of confidence prevails in the national broadcasters, and their relevance in the promotion of participatory development and democratization. National and regional campaigns for broadcasting reform should therefore be prioritized. All AMB reports are available online at http://www.misa.org/mediabarometer.html 2.5. Online Media Freedom Monitoring Tool In 2005 the programme made substantial progress towards standardizing the monitoring and reporting mechanisms through designing the Online Media Freedom Monitoring Tool (http://www.freemedia.misa.org/). The project, which is being developed in several phases, fundamentally to improve MISA’s media freedom monitoring capacity. In addition to standardized submission and easy retrieval and search of the alerts, the content management system creates a database that will include value adding resource documents and data that provide necessary evidence for the Media Freedom analysis. It is foreseen that the final phase of this project will be completed late in 2007 and will become public at the time when the organization unveils its revamped website. 2.6. Outreach, networking and coalition building 2.6.1 The International Freedom of Expression Exchange IFEX is a network of 87 freedom of expression organizations that monitors the state of free expression and transmits the information it collects to individuals and organizations around the world. IFEX was born in 1992 when leading freedom of expression organizations came together in Montreal, Canada to discuss how best to further their collective goals. The IFEX Clearing House is managed by IFEX member Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), and is based in Toronto, Canada. The Clearing House helps coordinate the work of IFEX members, reducing overlap in our activities and making us more effective in our shared objectives. IFEX is governed by a Council made up of 13 IFEX members. Annual Report 2006 19