Anas, Manasseh and Opoku Gakpo Recognized as "Solid" Journalists for World Freedom Day

General News on Friday, May 3, 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

2019-05-03

Investigative journalists Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Manbadeh Azure Awuni and development journalist Joseph Opoku Gapko were recognized for giving real meaning to journalism in Ghana's democracy.

Faithful to the truth and elucidating stories "left behind", these three people have, in various ways, gained international recognition through stories they have produced on issues relevant to the country.

To commemorate World Press Freedom Day, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Member of Parliament of North Tongu, commended the remarkable efforts of these journalists to ensure respect for society and respect for ethics in the profession. Journalism.

"Speaker to pay tribute to Ghanaian journalists who have recently made Ghana proud of their coveted international awards: this list must certainly have Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who was awarded in January in Lausanne, Switzerland, for her" Number 12 "exhibition. "Manbadeh Azure Awuni of the Multimedia Journalist of the year in West Africa and our own Joseph Opoku Gakpo, member of the Parliamentary Press Corps, who has been awarded the prize of the best journalist video in 2018 by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ), "statement read.

He also congratulated all media companies and journalists who, through their various efforts, ensured that the truth was transmitted to society through their platforms.

"That day, I salute our brave compatriots of the Fourth Estate – the pioneers working in difficult conditions in remote areas, investigative journalists who brave the chances of revealing the evil, the production teams that have to to get to work at unfair times, the media homeowners struggling with adverse economic conditions and our own parliamentary press corps without which what's going on here will stay within the confines of this room – to all of you, I say Ayekoo and Akpe Ga ".

Okudzeto, however, emphasized the importance of dealing with the threat of false information that tends to create chaos, fear and panic in society.

He also worried about the safety of journalists and the need to repress and deal with the harshest badaults and brutalities against journalists.

"We must all think about the dangers of misinformation as a product of a toxic mix of technology abuse, data breach, interference from dishonest external elements and often with the active collaboration of unscrupulous insider actors. False information and armed media that play our fears to divide us must be defeated. I hope that we will learn from the way in which misinformation has eroded the democratic gains of other jurisdictions and that we will be ahead of the process in formulating political and legislative reforms aimed at protecting our relatively nascent democracy. "

"We went too far as a country to have any tolerance for police brutality inflicted on the three journalists of the Ghanaian Times (Raissa Sambou, a nursing mother, Malik Sulleman, a court reporter, Abdul Salifu Rahman Deputy Editor), Latif Iddrisu of Joy News and other badaults, such as those against Victor Kawukume and Timothy Gobah, all of the Daily Graphic. We must send a clear message to all that this nation will not tolerate any abuse or attack by journalists in the performance of their legitimate duties.

Read the full statement below: