Ghana Journalists Association has marked this year’s World Press Day with the theme; ‘30 years after the Windhoek declaration: Information as a public good’.
Speaking at the ceremony, which was held at the International Press Centre in Accra yesterday, the Chairman of the National Media Commission, Mr. Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, urged media personnel to do what is right, just and fair. “The NMC is about to establish an office that will see to the safety of Journalists”, he said.
According to him, the relevance of the media is not only when they are free but when they are free and responsible, and that whoever expresses freedom without responsibility renders that freedom a nullity. He reiterated that media freedom goes with responsibility.
The Vice President of GJA, Madam Linda Asante-Agyei on her part stressed the need to defend press freedom while urging the citizenry to make it their business to provide credible information. She regretted that the killers of Ahmed Suale have not been found yet.
The Country Director for UNESCO, Mr. Diallo Abdourahamane also called on the authorities to bring the perpetrators behind Ahmed Suale’s death to book.
Mr. Peter Smidt Van Gelder, Deputy Head of Mission of the European Union in Ghana noted that journalists are not safe in countries like Mexico in Central America and Libya among others. Journalists, he continued, are often threatened, censored or killed for their words or works.
The Information Minister, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who was the Guest of Honour, assured that government was improving regulations to curb unethical broadcasting.
By Wilhelmina Love Abanonave
The post GJA Marks World Press Freedom Day appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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