Attack on Journalist; Unhealthy for Ghana’s Democracy
In recent times, Ghana has experienced a rapid growth of media attacks despite calls to mitigate this mennes. Journalists always fall as victims for an attack in line of duty.
In 2018, Latif Iddirisu of Joynews was attacked at National CID headquarters in Accra. Mohammed M. Anabira of Citi news was attacked during NPP parliamentary elections in Yendi. Amed Hussen Suale was killed in 2019 after Anas number 12 exposure.
Notwithstanding, Ghana has been ranked 62nd in Press Freedom Index for two times that is 2022 and 2023 respectively and 60th in 2014.
This calls for an immediate action to ensure that journalists are well protected to carry their duties.
Meanwhile, Ghana has constitutional provisions that safeguard the safety of journalists but it seems not to serve its purpose.
Despite calls from Civil Society Organization, government and other stakeholders to implement policies to curb the growing concerns of safety of journalists has not yielded much results.
The President in his address said, government will do everything to protect journalists but the numbers keep increasing.
It is time we should be worried about the safety of journalists in the country. A healthy democracy needs a vibrant media to thrive.
Queenster Ansah.220003118. Journalism and Media Studies, Student, UEW.
