What looks like a very worrying development, the Ghana Journalists Association says the sympathizers of the ruling New Patriotic Party have been implicated in most of the recent attacks on journalists across the country. This worrying trend has raised alarms as regards press freedom and the safety of media practitioners in Ghana.
Incidents of the report by the GJA are for the past year and point out that a high percentage of the attacks on journalists are connected with people affiliated to the NPP. These are in the form of physical attacks and verbal harassment, especially at politically charged events and election campaigns. There is hostility when journalists report on sensitive areas of news, where party loyalists often display aggression over what they perceive as bias or unfavorable reporting by the media.
It has, therefore, called on the government and the police to act urgently to safeguard journalists and guarantee their right not to be molested for reporting. The GJA reiterated that a free press is integral to good democracy, cautioning that the rising attacks might result in self-censorship by media personnel and eventually stifle public discourse.
Media rights organizations have blasted their outrage since the report came out, calling for accountability of the attackers. They are asking the government to take a tough stance against violence perpetrated against journalists, regardless of political stripe. Safety of reporters is being put as an argument by many activists for press freedom to ensure that there will be transparency and accountability from those in power.
Mean-while, GJA embarked on a publicity campaign to make the populace appreciate the importance of giving protection to press freedom. It calls for the passing of more protective laws for journalists and an effective implementation of existing ones that punish violence against media practitioners.
The revelations by the GJA thus come to remind one of what is going on in Ghana as it approaches the next general elections, and this is seriously threatening the integrity of journalism and journalists. This appeal by the association is a call for a collective commitment towards ensuring the rights of journalists are protected so they can keep on playing their role in society without intimidation or violence.
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