Andy Kankam, Editor of the Informer Newspaper says the police is not the first point of call when a journalist makes a wrong statement or publication about another.
“If someone on radio says something you consider untrue or disgraceful, then you should approach the right authorities, but you don’t need to rush to the police to seek redress,” he pointed out in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Editors’ Take edition of the Happy Morning show.
Outlining steps and actions one can take to address false publications, he stated, “if someone makes a false reportage about you, first draw his attention to it and ask for an apology and retraction. If they refuse, go to the National Media Commission (NMC) or the court but you don’t need to use the police to chase them.”
According to him, the exception to this is when the journalist makes comment of criminal purports.
To him, attacks on media personalities are just wrong and deserve to be condemned. He also criticized security officials who use their positions to intimidate journalists.
“We cannot sit here and say the attacks on media personalities are right. David Tamakloe (Editor of WhatsUp News) was arrested last year and his crime was that he had released a teaser of a story he was yet to publish and someone felt because her husband was a police chief, they could force him to drop it. He was arrested and they finally dropped the case. It is wrong to think you’re in the police service and can use your position to harass others,” he lamented.
Ghana has dropped 30 places to 60th on the 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
The ranking, undertaken by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), is Ghana’s third-lowest since the Index was first published in 2002.
In 2002, the country was ranked 67th and 66th in 2005.
According to the RSF report, although Ghana was considered a regional leader in democratic stability, journalists have experienced growing pressures in recent years.
“To protect their jobs and their security, they increasingly resort to self-censorship, as the government shows itself intolerant of criticism.
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