The President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has put his finger on a wound that the media industry in Ghana has nursed for too long in silence, but which is now bleeding onto the international stage.
Ghana's poor performance on the World Press Freedom Index, he says, is no longer just about the beating of a reporter or the storming of a radio station. It is about poverty in the newsroom.
That is a profound and uncomfortable truth that we must confront.
For years, whenever Ghana dropped on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom ranking — from a celebrated high of 23rd in 2005 to as low as 62nd in 2023 — the national conversation centred almost exclusively on physical attacks, impunity, and political interference.
Those remain serious.
But as Mr Dwumfour explained during a courtesy call on the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on October 27, the methodology for assessing press freedom changed in 2019. Economic factors became a standalone indicator.
The economic conditions of journalists are, to put it mildly, dire.
A recent GJA survey and anecdotal evidence show that many journalists, especially in private radio and online portals, earn less than GH¢1,000 a month.
Some are on no salary at all, working on a commission from adverts they can bring — the infamous "soli" and "soliciting" culture.
Many have no appointment letters, no conditions of service, no protection against arbitrary dismissal.
In some media houses, journalists buy their own fuel to cover assignments, pay for their own data to file stories, and then wait six months to be reimbursed.
This is not just an industrial relations issue.
It is a press freedom and national security issue.
A hungry journalist is a vulnerable journalist.
When a journalist cannot pay his rent, he becomes susceptible to "envelope journalism."
When a reporter must choose between truth and keeping a favour from a politician who paid her child's school fees, ethical journalism dies.
When the only way to survive is to become a mouthpiece for the highest bidder, media independence becomes a myth.
Self-censorship thrives not because journalists are cowards, but because they are poor.
You do not bite the hand that gives you money for fuel when your employer gives you nothing.
That is precisely what the economic indicator of the Press Freedom Index seeks to capture.
It measures the ability of journalists to work without economic coercion. Ghana is failing that test.
We therefore strongly support Mr Dwumfour's appeal to Parliament to support legislation to improve the economic welfare and conditions of service for journalists.
His proposal — a Private Member's Bill sponsored with support from donors and partners, to set minimum standards for employment of media practitioners — is timely and deserves bipartisan backing.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin's response was statesmanlike and accurate.
He described journalism as a critical public service and said it should not be treated solely as a conventional commercial enterprise.
"The politician only succeeds when he partners with you," he told the GJA delegation.
He is right.
The Constitution itself, in Article 162, guarantees media independence, and Article 166 establishes the National Media Commission.
Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution envisions the media as the Fourth Estate, not as a precarious gig economy.
If we treat journalists as casual labourers, we should not expect them to perform a constitutional mandate professionally, independently and responsibly.
Critics will argue that legislation cannot fix market failure.
They will say the media business model globally is struggling, advertising revenue has migrated to Facebook and Google, and many owners are themselves indebted.
That is true, and that is precisely why the state must intervene.
Just as government intervened to set conditions of service for teachers and health workers because their services are essential, it must intervene for journalists because credible information is essential for democracy and good governance.
Our country’s democracy has been praised because we have a vibrant, pluralistic media.
We have over 600 authorised radio stations, over 100 TV stations, and hundreds of newspapers and online portals.
That quantitative vibrancy masks qualitative precarity.
We have numbers without nourishment.
If Parliament passes a law that improves the economic welfare of journalists, it will not just improve Ghana's ranking on an index in Paris, it will strengthen it.
Press freedom is not free.
It has a cost.
And that cost must include a decent wage for those who produce it.
