Ensuring safety of journalists multi-faceted

Following the decision by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) that the media mount a blackout against the Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East, Mavis Hawa Koomson, who is also a minister; and that of Yendi, Farouk Aliu Mahama, for assaulting journalists, various opinions have been shared over the matter.

What are running now are the opposing views expressed by Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, the Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), himself a veteran journalist; and the response from the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfour.

It is unfortunate that the two stalwarts in the history of the association founded in 1949 should give cause to members of the public to think that one of them is right and the other is wrong.

We think it is important for the two men to consider their positions critically and they would probably apologise to each other.

Our point is made according to law and against the background of the position of Free Press Unlimited, an international press freedom organization, on the safety of journalists.

Chapter 12 of the country’s 1992 Constitution, for instance, gives legal backing to the freedom and independence of the media.

For its part, Free Press Unlimited says there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, as the safety challenges vary per context and so bases its approach to the safety of journalists on the three pillars of Prevention, Protection and Prosecution.

Critically analysed, the two positions may have their merits and demerits but both seek to protect journalists.

However, taking into consideration the impunity of some of the country’s politicians against the safety of journalists, we are compelled to support the boycott of politicians who think they have all the powers on earth to bully and intimidate journalists.

Such politicians, by their actions, are telling the whole world that they do not even support the 1992 constitution; neither do they respect the position of their own leaders.

Do Hawa Koomson and Farouk Aliu Mahama remember that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo not too long ago told the Dwumfuor-led GJA that the safety of journalists in Ghana must be held sacrosanct as he would not condone any attacks on any media practitioner irrespective of the offence caused?

If it is not an allegation but it can be proven that they actually assaulted journalists, will they agree that they have shown utmost disrespect to the President?

If Hawa and Farouk have forgotten what President Akufo-Addo said because it’s been a while since, what about what the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said as part of a statement he delivered on the floor of Parliament on November 8, 2023?

The minister said: “The safety of journalists is not negotiable and journalism is not a crime.”

The media blacklisting of politicians and others who attack journalists may be impunity but we think that approach may be right in the current cases of attacks otherwise a giant media organization like the Media Foundation for West Africa would not fully endorse and support the decision of the GJA.

Considering the apathetic attitude of the state toward the safety of journalists in spite of the repeated commitment to do so, there is the need to adopt measures dictated by the circumstances to protect journalists.

After all, journalists have a critical role to play to ensure their own safety on their line of duty.