4. Media Support 4.1 Professionalism and Accountability MISA continued the fight for self regulation in the region. At the regional level a draft model code of ethics was developed during the year under review and it is waiting to be circulated for further input. The production of a MISA model code of ethics was recommended at the 2005 conference on ethics in the media that was held during the MISA AGM. The publication of the conference report has however been pushed to the next financial year due to financial constraints. Several strides have been made in the fight for self regulation in the chapters, with the revival of the media council in Malawi early in 2007. The Media Council’s constitution was adopted and candidates for the post of national director have been short listed. The council’s secretariat is at present being housed by MISA Malawi. This is a positive step in the country’s media regaining its credibility trust from the general public. Botswana has an operating media council and the chapter continued to support its activities. However, the press council has financial problems and it is looking to MISA for help. This really needs to be considered as MISA was instrumental in its set up and not helping the council might mean its collapse and several steps back in self regulation for the region. MISA Namibia continued in this year to promote the idea of the need for a self regulatory mechanism in the country in order to get buy in from all stakeholders. In this vein MISA Namibia was heavily involved in the process of establishing an Editors Forum working with the interim Editors Forum as it is essential to the establishment of the a self regulatory mechanism In Swaziland, MISA continued to work closely with media stakeholders to facilitate the delayed launch of the Media Complaints Commission (MCC). The delay was mainly caused by the question of the commission’s sustainability. Media owners, who are supposed to fund the commission, are yet to decide on the funding mechanism. The delayed launch saw the government drafting a Media Commission Bill to introduce a statutory regulatory mechanism. To fight the new bill, MISA Swaziland facilitated a series of meetings with stakeholders and newsrooms to advocate against the bill and educate them on the importance of media self-regulation. All stakeholders are once again agreed on self-regulation and the plan is to launch the MCC early in the next financial year to pre-empt the government’s introduction to the statutory mechanism. MISA-Zimbabwe continued to work with media houses and organizations to set up a voluntary media council, publicize the code of conduct as an alternative to the settlement of disputes the media might have with any individual or groups in society. The Code of Conduct and Voluntary Media Council project is now one of MISA-Zimbabwe’s biggest projects where a substantial amount of resources were allocated as the government had indicated that if the media could establish a media council then it will revise the statutory MIC and AIPPA. On 26 January 2007, MISA-Zimbabwe working with the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), Zimbabwe National Editor’s Forum, Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Association of Editor’s launched the Media Council of Zimbabwe in Harare. The launch of the a MCZ was without its challenges as they were direct threats from the Ministry of Information and Publicity as well as the Chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Transport and Communications, 32 Annual Report 2006