Ghana has dropped 30 places to 60th on the 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
The ranking is Ghana’s third-lowest since Reporters Without Borders (RSF) began publishing the report in 2002.
Ghana ranked 67th in 2002 and 66th in 2005.
This year the index was compiled using a new methodology to take better account of new challenges, including those linked to media digitalisation.
Another change in the data gathering this year was that although the survey stopped at the end of January 2022, updates for January to March 2022 were carried out for countries where the situation had changed dramatically, such as Russia, Ukraine and Mali.
The survey assesses on the basis of a quantitative survey of press freedom violations and abuses against journalists and media, and a qualitative study based on the responses of hundreds of press freedom experts selected by RWB – which includes journalists, academics and human rights defenders.
A country fact file published by RSF said “Although the country is considered a regional leader in democratic stability, journalists have experienced growing pressures in recent years”.
“To protect their jobs and their security, they increasingly resort to self-censorship, as the government shows itself intolerant of criticism. In addition, one-third of media outlets are owned by politicians or by people tied to the top political parties. The content they produce is largely partisan,” the fact file reads.
It adds that journalists’ safety has deteriorated sharply in recent years.
“In 2020, reporters covering the effectiveness of anti-Covid-19 measures were attacked by security forces. And political leaders are again making death threats against investigative journalists. Nearly all cases of law enforcement officers attacking journalists are not pursued”.
