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PRESS RELEASE

MISA ANNUAL CONGRESS
MISA/ARTICLE 19 MEDIA LAW CONFERENCE

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) is to hold its annual
congress in Zanzibar, Tanzania from October 4 - 7. The congress will
coincide with a conference on media law, jointly hosted by MISA and the
London-based Article 19, and will be attended by 80 or so media workers,
legal experts and observers from throughout southern Africa and beyond.

The Fourth MISA Annual Congress will take place from October 4-7, and will
be attended by representatives from MISA chapters in the 11 Southern Africa
Development Community (SADC) countries, together with observers from the
media and the international community. Delegates will discuss MISA's
strategic vision for the year ahead, and will review the organisation's
activities since the last congress, which was held in Mbabane, Swaziland in
November 1994.

The  Joint MISA/Article 19 Conference on Media  Laws in Southern Africa
will take place on October 6 and 7. The aim of the  conference is to
increase awareness amongst media practitioners on legal impediments to
media freedom in the SADC region. It is also the intention to initiate
better contacts between media workers and human rights activists/lawyers,
as well as to develop positive examples of media law in practice.

Papers will be delivered by media law experts on issues such as
broadcasting law, national security, sedition, hate speech, defamation,
electoral law, constitutional guarantees of free expression and media
freedom, the protection of journalists and their sources, and the
application of international human rights standards. Papers will be
discussed by a panel of speakers from the region and overseas.

At the close of the conference, on October 7, MISA will host a gala dinner
at which the 1995 MISA Press Freedom Award will be presented to a southern
African media worker considered to have made a significant contribution to
the promotion of media freedom in the region. The previous two awards have
both gone to Zimbabweans - Makani Kabweza and Basildon Peta. Nominees for
this year's award were as follows:

* Anthony Kunda - senior reporter and columnist of Zambia's weekly
newspaper the National Mirror, whose column The Fire Next Time, has taken a
consistently critical look at topical issues.
* Carlos Cardoso - founding member and editor of MediaFax news bulletin,
which was the first privately-run publication to challenge the state's
media monopoly following the end of one-party rule in Mozambique. MediaFax
- and Cardoso's journalism in particular - blazed a trail for others to
follow.
* Edina Ndejembi - Tanzanian freelance journalist who was charged with
"obstructing the police" having been beaten and detained for several hours
while covering a political rally in March this year. She was finally
acquitted after a prolonged trial. She has been regularly harassed by the
authorities during the past year as a result of her work.
* Fred M'membe - Managing Director of Zambia's The Post which, since its
launch in 1991, has been on the receiving end of more than 100 legal suits,
only one of which the paper has lost.  M'membe has himself been frequently
detained and harassed by the authorities.

MISA is a non-governmental organisation promoting media freedom and
diversity in southern Africa.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT JULIA MANASSE OR DAVID LUSH AT MISA, TEL.
+264 61 232975, FAX 248016, E-MAIL: postmaster@ingrid.misa.org.na

David Lush
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel. +264 61 232975, Fax. 248016
e-mail: dlush@ingrid.misa.org.na