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Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah (left) interacting with Mr. Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh at the stakeholder meeting on the Mechanism for Safe and Responsible Journalism in Accra
The demand of Ghanaian journalists to punish those who badault them in the performance of their duties may soon be materialized by the establishment of a national coordinating mechanism for safe and responsible journalism.
Media representatives, the government and civil society organizations are among the stakeholders responsible for the proposed mechanism, which should be ready by November this year.
Their mandate will include the deployment of interventions to prevent attacks on journalists, protect journalists and prosecute those involved in attacks.
Led by the Ministry of Information and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), this body will also provide a framework for the validation of attacks and threats against journalists in Ghana, as well as to sensitize stakeholders to the need to ensure the safety and security of journalists. responsible media environment in the country.
Opportunity
This was announced at a workshop on the validation of the draft mechanism, during which speakers condemned all forms of badaults against journalists. However, they urged the Ghanaian media to work in ways that do not compromise the ethics of their profession.
Charm
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The Minister of Information, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, urged stakeholders not to be entrenched in their positions but to be pbadionate in their deliberations as advocates of free media and a responsible journalism in the country.
Free and responsible journalism should not belong to a single entity, but to the collective responsibility of all stakeholders, stressing that there must be "an environment in which journalists can freely carry out their activities, raise problems that They judge free and even make mistakes, and expect normal legal channels to be used to remedy these errors. "
Mr. Nkrumah said that media violations by security personnel and political actors should be discussed thoroughly to avoid such incidents in the country.
The minister pointed out, however, that the lack of appropriate validations could be the reason why allegations of badault have been made against journalists. He expressed the hope that with the establishment of a validation framework, these accusations could be verified in order to protect media professionals and the image of the country.
Scandalous frequency
The President of the Ghana Association of Journalists, Affail Monney, said the scandalous frequency of attacks against journalists has tended to tarnish the image of the country as a summit of democratic practice in Africa.
He said that as Ghana is still recognized as Africa's best democracy for five years, it would be tragically ironic that the country let attacks on journalists infect them.
The President is however concerned that journalists take their personal safety for granted during their missions.
Mr. Monney said that one way out of the situation was to strengthen the ability of journalists to be concerned about security so as not to fall prey to easy attacks from people that he has described as enemies of freedom of the press and democracy.
Balanced
President of the National Media Commission, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, said that if the country is fighting for its journalists to work in freedom and security, journalists must also be careful not to undermine the psychological safety of journalists. people for whom they write.
He added that journalists have played an important role in the evolution of democracy in the country over the years and that they should be recognized and respected.
Mr. Boadu-Ayeboafoh urged participants to contribute effectively to the document in order to make the mechanism effective in limiting attacks against journalists and also promote responsible journalism.
A global trend
The UNESCO Representative for UNESCO, Abdourahamane Diallo, said that attacks on journalists are becoming more common around the world. A journalist was killed every four days in 2016 and 2017.
He added that while Ghana had made tremendous progress in its democratic credentials and respect for human rights, it needed to do more to protect its journalists from attacks.
Recall
The need for such an institution is explained by the growing number of cases of badaults against journalists in the country, including the recent killing of a journalist 39, investigation, Ahmed Suale, allegedly killed by unknown badailants in Madina in Accra in January this year.
More than 30 journalists have been badaulted in Ghana in the last 18 months, according to statistics collected by the Media Foundation for West Africa.
The latest is the arrest and alleged torture of two ModernGhana journalists for allegedly involved in a cyber fraud, an accusation that they denied and subsequently challenged in court.
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