Media stakeholders resolve to fight attacks on journalists
Four media stakeholders have resolved to use all legal means to fight the increasing physical attacks on journalists in the country.
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They said if society allowed journalists — the torchbearers of public openness — to be cowed by physical attacks, there would be nobody to speak in defence of society when the
entire community came under attack.
The National Media Commission (NMC), the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Private Newspaper Publishers Association (PRINPAG) and the Ghana Independent
Broadcasters Association (GIBA) stated their resolve in a joint statement on the recent spate of attacks on journalists.
Reading the statement on behalf of the stakeholders at a news conference in Accra yesterday, the GJA President, Mr Affail Monney, said attacks on journalists must be seen as an
attack on the poor and vulnerable in society whose cause the media championed.
Attacks on journalists
Several cases of assault on journalists have been recorded in various parts of the country this year.
Recently, Daniel Kenu of the Daily Graphic was assaulted in Kumasi by six macho men and Baffour Gyan, the elder brother of Asamoah Gyan, the skipper of the Black Stars.
The attack was believed to be directly linked to a question the victim asked Asamoah Gyan at a pre-match news conference.
Again, some members of staff of Multi TV were arrested and charged with offensive conduct for attempting to do a story on the post-demolition situation of residents of Mensah
Guinea, a suburb of Accra.
Meanwhile, the nation is still discussing how the News Editor of Adom FM, Ms Afua Pokua, was attacked near a district office of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in
Accra.
The statement said, “The consistency, rapidity and sheer audacity of some of the attacks suggested that the respect for law and order and due process could suffer a decline if
nothing was done to correct the system.”
“It is a spreading canker that must be halted. This worrying view is further strengthened by recent international events regarding the safety of journalists,” it stressed.
NMC Chairman
The Chairman of the NMC, Mr Kabral Blay-Amihere, said the recent attacks on journalists posed a threat to the media industry and could affect the ranking of Ghana as a beacon of
democracy and press freedom.
He said the fact that a person asked a question that someone deemed inappropriate did not warrant an assault on the questioner.
He said if anybody was aggrieved, that person could use the law to seek redress.
The NMC Chairman, however, stressed the need for media responsibility, which he said was the best safeguard for press freedom.
Graphic MD
The Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, also stressed the need for journalists and media practitioners to rally together
to protect their own against attacks and seek justice for their members.
That, he said, was crucial because no amount of money could buy the life of an individual.
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On the attack on Mr Kenu, he said the GCGL would follow the case in court to its logical conclusion, in spite of attempts by some ‘big men’ in society to talk him down on the issue.
A member of the NMC, Mr Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, urged media owners to ensure that journalists worked in safety.
The Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr George Sarpong, said no enlightened society accepted attacks on journalists, saying the attacks “are unorthodox and need to be
discouraged”.