General

Govt to act on ‘Reporters Without Borders’ report about poor economic conditions for Ghanaian Journalists

Government has welcomed the 2022 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders in which Ghana has significantly dropped from 30 to 60 in the global ranking.

It said the report will serve as a baseline for which the government will work in collaboration with the National Media Commission, to help deepen the execution of a Coordinated Mechanism on the safety of journalists.

A statement signed by the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said it will also collaborate with stakeholders including CSOs to deepen education for state and non-state actors on the safety of journalists.

The statement said it will also help address the concerns of ‘Reporters Without Borders’ about the poor economic conditions of most journalists in the country, and it will also continue engagements with media associations including media owners to improve the working and economic conditions of journalists.

It said it is important to emphasize that the change in methodology significantly accounted for the drop in ranking for a number of countries including the Netherlands that dropped from 5th in 2021 to 28 in 2022 in global rankings.

The statement said Ghana’s dip in ranking was largely influenced by two of the new parameters, namely the Economic Context and Safety of Journalists where the country scored 47.22% and 62.25%.

According to the Information Minister, the country comparatively performed better in guaranteeing safety of journalists juxtaposed to economic factors that influence media work, underpinned by poor salaries for journalists and the lack of financial sustainability of some Media Houses, making a number of them economically less viable.

It said the new report also took into consideration the effect of opinion media, propaganda, disinformation and fake news and their adverse impact on press freedom ranking for affected countries.