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General News on Friday, April 19th, 2019
Source: dailymailgh.com
2019-04-19
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Ghana lost its status as Africa's highest ranked country in the world press freedom index, mainly because of the murder of investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale.
In the 2019 report on the World Press Freedom Index prepared by Reporters Without Borders, Ghana ranked 27th out of 23 against 201 in 2018.
The report attributes this decline in four locations mainly to the killing of a Tiger Eye PI Hussein-Suale member and the threat of his life before his badbadination by New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPP Kennedy Agyapong.
"A group of investigative journalists had to spend part of 2018 in hiding after producing a documentary on the corruption of Ghanaian football. A member of the ruling party, named in the documentary, publicly threatened one of the journalists without ever being punished. The journalist was shot in the street a few months later. Journalists are rarely arrested, but several have been attacked with impunity in 2018, sometimes by police officers.
"Although Ghana continues to be considered one of the most democratic countries in Africa and Chapter 12 of its 1992 Constitution guarantees pluralism and independence of the media, one-third of media are owned by the state or government-related businessmen, "says the report. says about the West African country.
Ghana's worst performance came in 2013 when it finished 30th and the best in 2015 at 22nd place.
Namibia dominated the African championship at age 23, with Norway ranking first in the world, while Turkmenistan was last at 180.
The RSF index, which badesses the state of journalism every year in 180 countries and territories, shows that a climate of intense fear has set in, detrimental to a safe reporting environment. The hostility of journalists towards journalists expressed by the political leaders of many countries has been at the root of more and more serious and frequent acts of violence that have fueled a level unprecedented fear and danger for journalists.
"If the political debate slips surreptitiously or openly into an atmosphere of civil war in which journalists are treated as scapegoats, democracy is in danger," said Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RSF. "Putting an end to this cycle of fear and intimidation is an extremely urgent matter for all people of good will who attach importance to the freedoms acquired during history."
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