According to Professor Justice Samuel Date-Bah, a former Supreme Court justice, removing all provisions that make false reports illegal would be dangerous.
According to him, such laws were put in place to control mischief; therefore, any discussions of getting rid of them had to go through a procedure to determine if their intended use still applied under the present legal system.
Yesterday, the Directorate of Research, Innovation, and Development (DRID) of the University of Media, Arts, and Communication in Accra hosted a lecture, which Prof. Date-Bah presided over.
The legal control of false information, hate speech, etc. Is it wanted? Can it be done?
The talk covered a variety of topics in depth, drawing in students and faculty from the school's numerous faculties. the problem of hate speech as well as the vocabulary employed in the media and in public debate.
In an effort to encourage good and constructive language in media discourse, issues including ethics, false news, and language use took center stage.
Context
Recently, it has been claimed that two legislative provisions, the Electronic Communications Act and the Criminal Code, notably Section 208 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), stifle free expression.
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), and the Private Newspaper Publishers Association (PRINPAG) are among the organizations that have promoted such requests.
At the celebration of World Press Freedom Day in Accra on Wednesday, GJA President Albert Dwumfour argued that the arbitrary nature of the application of those rules simply helped to terrorize the people.
As significant players in the media sector, we cannot stay silent as these laws are being utilized to detain people and journalists and as criminal prosecution is chosen over civil remedies for press and speech breaches that are just libellous, the man added.
Based on this, Kofi Yeboah, the GJA's general secretary, asked Prof. Date-Bah for his opinion on the subject during yesterday's public lecture.
According to Prof. Date-Bah, the issue of free expression and false news under the present legal framework was complicated and required forces to be balanced.
"Clearly, domesticating the talks is not a straightforward task."
"To reach a decision that matches our culture, there must be a debate process," he added.
He stressed that a blanket deletion of these rules would just open the door for trouble without any regulation and that a procedure was needed to determine whether they accomplished the purpose for which they were intended.
legal action
Dr. Venkat Lyer, a barrister and scholar from Northern Ireland who served as the primary speaker, stressed that it was important to use caution while enforcing laws against hate speech in order to protect people's right to free expression.
He claimed that in order to prevent self-censorship, law enforcement officials must be liberal in how they implement such laws.
But he issued a warning against abusing the right to free expression.
Despite other countries creating false news regulations, according to Dr. Lyer, it is difficult to define fake news.
He added, "If the law is couched loosely, there will be wrong convictions," warning that this might lead to individuals being wrongfully convicted under such laws.
He also urged the establishment of a robust system of judicial protection and the development of legal professionals' competence to interpret the law fairly.
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