The Deputy Communications Director at the Office of the President, Jefferson Sackey, has disclosed that Ghana’s low performance in the latest ranking with regards to press freedom is as a result of the economic context introduced in the report.
Commenting on the press freedom of the country, Mr. Sackey intimated that there was also an introduction of a other methodology in the ranking this year causing Ghana to fall short.
According to the Deputy Communications Director, the nation prides itself in having one of the most vibrant and powerful democracies in Africa. He stated that to be a vibrant democracy, Ghana will obviously need a vibrant and free media. “So, it’s quite questionable when somebody tells you that there is no freedom of press in our society. If there is no freedom of press, what do we have in our country? “
“If you look at the report that just came out and the percentages that we scored, we should first of all bear in mind that the context of this year’s report is extremely different from all the contexts that we have had over the years. And also remember that we have been hovering around 4% difference from 2006, 2016 thereabouts. We were doing 26%, we came to around 27% at a point and the last report, we were at 30%.”
Jefferson Sackey
New context changes dynamics
Jefferson Sackey noted that if a new context is introduced to a report, it changes the dynamics and that is what the nation is witnessing. He stated that looking at the context that is being introduced this time, that is the economic context, it throws a question as to whether the media in Ghana really does pay good salaries or wages.
“It is not happening and so, when these kind of things are not in place, it changes everything to the extent that today, you see media personnel at programmes lined up for solidarity or what we call ‘Soli’. It’s all indicating the fact that the media economically, are not doing well. So, the big question we need to ask ourselves is how can we as a nation resolve this particular problem?”
Jefferson Sackey
Mr. Sackey posited that digital migration can help resolve the economic challenges the media faces. He indicated that when government is done with it’s digital migration project, it will generate funds. “It means that with every viewership on your tv station, payment is coming in.”
According to the Deputy Communications Officer, the existence of social media has also changed the dynamics of the media today. He stated that the use of social media is something that must be critically looked at due to government’s inability to censor every content put out. Mr. Sackey averred that since news on across social media cannot all be verified, it also plays a role in bringing the nation’s ranking down.
Ghana dropped 30 places in the latest press freedom index released by Reporters Without Borders which monitors happenings within the media space in 180 countries. The report scored Ghana 67.43, placing the West African country at the 60th position, a sharp decline from its 30th position last year. The latest ranking is the lowest the country has ever seen in the past 17 years since it placed 66th in 2005.
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