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World Press Freedom Day in Africa

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) marked World Press Freedom Day by launching its 2009 report, "So this is democracy? State of media freedom in Southern Africa," pointing to the deterioration in press freedom in the region, especially in Swaziland, Zambia and Botswana. MISA research shows that access to information is blocked throughout the region by excessively secretive governments. The most difficult country to request information from is Zimbabwe. "Information was denied based on what the public official suspected the information was for." In the last year, MISA recorded 165 press freedom violations; the highest number was in Zimbabwe with 33. In Swaziland, the monarchy is the main predator of press freedom and in Botswana, state print and broadcasting media are completely controlled by the President. http://www.misa.org/researchandpublication/democracy/democracy.html