Private legal practitioner, lawyer Nana Serwaah Acheampong, has shared her opinion on Ghana’s current rank on press freedom.
Speaking on Accra- based Movement TV she said that, “the media is the 4th estate therefore journalist must be given the room to operate without fear. Unfortunately, some security agencies mishandle journalists in their course of duty. This is a wake up call for all us in ensuring that media men and women have the liberty they need in their duty”.
Her comment comes on the back of the latest report by Reporters Without Borders on Ghana dropping 30 places in the press freedom index. The report was released to commemorate the International Press Freedom Day and Ghana scored 67.43, placing 60th on the index out of 180 countries. The latest ranking is said to be the lowest in the past 17 years.
Lawyer Serwaah added that “ You cannot blame any particular person or institution, it is our collective duty to ensure the media operates with freedom. The security agencies should devise a new approach of handling journalists who unintentionally go against the law in their line of work”.
Kwame Baa Mensah, the Head of Monitoring at the National Sports Authority (NSA), cautioned journalists not to be quick in breaking the news but esure whatever they put out is factual, and also desist from defaming the image of others through false news.