ABL supports journalists on World Freedom Day
Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) has presented GH¢10,000 to the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day marked on May 4. The donation was in line with ABL’s tradition of supporting the media to execute their work smoothly.
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Over the past nine years, the brewery has consistently supported the World Press Freedom Day in a similar fashion.
At the flag raising ceremony in Accra to mark the day, the Corporate Affairs Manager of ABL, Mr Cyrus deGraft-Johnson, commended the media fraternity for their invaluable contribution to the socio-cultural and economic development of the country.
“We in the business sector have a symbiotic relationship with the media. We need credible and accurate information to enable us to take certain decisions and the media also need factual and interesting facts and figures from us to inform the public,” Mr deGraft-Johnson said.
While stressing the need for the Ghana Journalists Association to encourage its members to uphold the tenets of ethical and professional journalism, Mr deGraft-Johnson reaffirmed ABL’s commitment to work within the regulatory and legal framework, as well as play a leading advocacy role for authentic business information.
He wondered why the passage of the Right to Information Bill was yet to see the light of day, in spite of the sustained advocacy by business and civil society groups.
We at ABL, therefore, join business, civil society organisations and all well-meaning Ghanaians in a collective effort to get the Freedom of Information Bill and the Broadcasting Bill passed. We are hopeful that with the assurances from the Information Minister, Mr Mustapha Hamid, and the Leadership of Parliament, the Bill will see the light of day before this year ends.’’
Mr deGraft-Johnson explained that the RTI, when ratified, would provide the legal and ethical framework and set the ground rules to guide the numerous traditional media outlets on how to conduct the business of information gathering and dissemination.’’
He, however, reminded stakeholders of the need to widen the scope of the legal regime to include social media, which, albeit unregulated, is fast becoming the new norm and the platforms of choice for mass communication.
‘‘Are we factoring these into the form, structure and spirit of the Broadcasting Law and the Freedom of Information Bill? What are the considerations being made,” he queried.
Mr deGraft-Johnson reiterated that joining ABInBev, the world’s largest brewery, in October 2016, has renewed ABL’s energy and commitment to bringing people together for a better world, a world where everyone has the opportunity to improve their livelihood.
‘‘We strive to achieve this every day by combining and aligning our scale, resources and energy to the needs of our communities, providing the drive and tools that propel people to achieve their dreams and make it happen,” he noted further.
Press Freedom Day
Marked on May 3 annually, the World Press Freedom Day presents stakeholders in the media an opportunity to reflect and evaluate the fundamental principles of press freedom around the world.
It also affords stakeholders the opportunity to defend the media from attacks on their independence while paying tribute to journalists who lost their lives in the line of duty.
The theme for this year’s celebration was “Critical Minds for Critical Times.”