Do not sacrifice others in the name of freedom of the press – NMC to journalists

General News of Sunday, July 21st, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-07-21

Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh, chairman of the National Media Commission (CNM), urged journalists not to sacrifice others in the name of the exercise of freedom of expression.

"Freedom without responsibility makes this freedom useless," he said. While fighting for the safety of journalists, the country should also ensure responsible journalism so that its writings do not harm the psychological safety of others.

Mr. Boadu Ayeboafoh said this at a stakeholder engagement and validation workshop in Accra on Friday on the project of the National Coordinating Mechanism for Safe and Responsible Journalism in Ghana.

The Stakeholder Meeting was organized by the Ministry of Information in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to solicit input into the draft framework and validate it later, to ensure safe and responsible journalism in the country.

Stakeholders came from 21 institutions, including the Ghana Association of Journalists, the National Media Commission, journalism training institutions, the School of Communications and the Ghana Bar Association.

The other groups are the Armed Forces, the National Peace Council, the National House of Chiefs and the National Commission for Civic Education, media actors such as the Association of Independent Broadcasters of Ghana, Association of Private Newspapers of Ghana, Ghana Sports Writers Association and civil society organizations focusing on media and human rights.

Mr. Boadu Ayeboafoh was convinced that the framework would make media professionals more impactful and meaningful for the nation's development.

He acknowledged the role played by the Ghanaian media in strengthening democracy in the country, noting that this has allowed the nation to put in place the longest constitutional regime since 1993.

He therefore urged the participants present at the meeting to make significant contributions that would ensure a comprehensive implementation of the framework and withstand the test of time.

Abdulourahamane Diallo, Chief of Mission of the UNESCO Office in Ghana, said the United Nations was highly regarded for the right to freedom of expression and urged stakeholders to put in place mechanisms to ensure that the media contribute to improving the democratic credibility of the country.

He said that it was a right enshrined in Article 90 of the Universal Convention on Human Rights and other international conventions to which Ghana was a signatory.

As a result, UNESCO's Diallo, responsible for promoting human rights in the world, will work for the protection of the rights to freedom of the media, access to information and the safety of journalists .

He said that Ghana has ratified many international conventions on human rights and has made considerable efforts in promoting human rights over the years. However, annual reports on the state of media freedom in the country are not encouraging, with crimes against journalists.

Mr. Diallo referred to the horrific badbadination of Ahmed Suale, leader of the Tiger PI, and said that UNESCO had subscribed to the investigation into the case to ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are brought to justice.

He said the safety of journalists worldwide required concerted efforts on the part of all stakeholders and welcomed Ghana for the initiative to create a safe environment for journalism practice.

Mr. Diallo presented various programs that UNESCO had initiated over the years to ensure the safety of journalists worldwide and to promote freedom of expression in West Africa.

The Framework for Safe and Responsible Journalism in Ghana highlighted four areas: ensuring an intensive education of all actors on their roles to ensure a safe and responsible media environment, ensuring an appropriate framework that validates attacks and threats against journalists and introduce interventions to prevent attacks on journalists and prosecute perpetrators of violence against journalists, as well as -stop shop shop to provide accurate annual statistics on attacks, the safety of journalists and complaints against media professionals.