The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) says, the lack of stringent punishment for perpetrators of crimes against journalists, only emboldens others to engage in similar crimes.
This concern of the association comes on the occasion of the International Day to end impunity for crimes against journalists which is being marked today, November 2, 2019.
The latest World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, saw Ghana losing its spot as one of the best-ranked countries for press freedom.
The county dropped from 23 in 2018 to 27 in 2019.
The drop was attributed mainly to the murder of investigate journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale earlier in 2019.
President of GJA, Affail Monney in a Citi News interview on the fate of journalists in the country, mentioned that punishing those who attack journalists is very important and must be pursued aggressively.
He also assured that the rights of journalists will be protected.
“We have all it takes to deal with impunity surgically by ensuring that, the perpetrators face the music and consequences of their actions. It is not enough to condemn and pray against the attacks. This appeal goes to the law and order community. What we ought to do as a nation is that, regardless of the status of the perpetrators, the law must deal with those who attack journalists. This will instill confidence in media practitioners to do what they do.”
Government says is the implementing a Coordinating Mechanism on the Safety of Journalists, media practitioners in the country as well as other stakeholders by equipping them to prevent abuse and independently validating future claims of attacks.
A significant number of recent assault on journalists have happened at political events.
In October 2018, a Joy FM reporter was assaulted by a member of John Mahama’s security detail whilst covering Mr. Mahama’s campaign to be NDC flagbearer.
Three journalists, including Citi FM’s Marie-Franz Fordjoe, and two others from TV3 and Ghanaweb, were also assaulted by security guards at the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) headquarters when they were covering a demonstration by some angry party members on December 21, 2017.
In this instance, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) was compelled to petition the National Chairman of the NPP to help bring to book party activists who attacked the journalists.
The post We’ll ensure rights of journalists are protected to prevent attacks -GJA appeared first on Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana, Current Affairs, Business News , Headlines, Ghana Sports, Entertainment, Politics, Articles, Opinions, Viral Content.
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