The fall of press freedom in Ghana marks the awakening – Affail Monney

General News of Saturday, April 20, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-04-20

Ghana's Ghana Association of Journalists (GJA) president Affail Monney said Ghana's downgrading to the latest World Press Freedom Index rankings should serve as a wake-up call. strengthen the protection of journalists in the country.

He added that the factors explaining Ghana's slide in the league are not exaggerated, as there have been several incidents of badaults and violent attacks on journalists, including the badbadination of 39, an investigative journalist with Anas Aremeyaw, Ahmed Suale.

In an interview with Citi News, Affail Monney said that security agencies and other state actors were to protect journalists in the performance of their duties, as planned in active democracies.

"It is not surprising that Ghana has lost a bit of ground with regard to freedom of the press. We were at the top of the list of open media spaces in Africa last year and ranked 23rd in the world and we are now ranked 2nd in Africa and 27th in the world. The causal factors are not exaggerated, we have witnessed scandalous frequency attacks against journalists. The title was the badbadination of Ahmed Suale of Fame TigerEye, "he said.

Reporters Without Borders' latest press freedom ranking, Namibia is now the highest ranking African country in the world press freedom index.

Affail Monney expressed optimism that Ghana could regain the lead if journalists are properly protected and the perpetrators of violence are quickly treated.

"This is an appeal to all of us to strengthen the protection, especially the authorities and the security apparatus, so that journalists are better protected than today and the cases of attacks against journalists are also the subject of rapid investigations and that the authors treat surgically. . This is the time for us to face impunity head-to-head, otherwise we will continue to slide and, once we slip, the lighthouse of our democracy will also darken, "he said.