Editor in Chief of the Herald Newspaper, Larry Dogbey has asserted that Ghana’s current ranking on the Press Freedom report does not reflect the true situation in Ghana.
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According to him, the report was rather lenient on the Ghana situation and that he expected the country to drop more than the three places it did on the latest press freedom index.
Speaking in an interview on Happy98.9FM’s ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ with Kwame Afrifa, Larry Dogbey said, “I am of the view that the report was charitable with Ghana” as he went on to list instances where media practitioners have suffered at the hands of the government.
On his authority, factors he think should have dropped Ghana far below its present ranking were the unsolved murder of Ahmed Suale and the shutting down of some radio stations by the National Media Commission. He noted that attempts to get these radio stations were hindered by the Minister of Communication who is reported to have said, “She is not interested in having the discussion” .
Larry mentioned that, press freedom is not just an idea expressed but it is the “constitutional right for people to gain access to information and have to be presented with a wide array of choices. But this is not happening in the country”, he observed.
The Editor pointed out the fact that journalists are being brutalized by the police and “the powerful” with the government refusing to protect us when we are fulfilling a constitutional requirement”, he said.
“A group of lunatics will pull out a gun and kill us but no one will care because we don’t even remember the last time the President spoke about the Ahmed casewhich is quite disappointing”, he noted.
He reiterated, “I am getting disappointed in someone who says he’s a lawyer, a media owner and publisher but under him, a murder has happened and we’ve not seen any progress so far”, he said, making reference to President Nana Akufo-Addo.
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With regard to enhancing media freedom in Ghana, he opined that can only be possible if the safety of journalists can be assured. “And that can only be proven by government resolving the murder of Ahmed Suale”, he added.
Ghana has fallen to number 30, 3 places down from the 2019 press freedom report.
The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders based upon the organisation’s own assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year.
By: Joel Sanco