By Gloria Amoh
The Minister-Designate for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, has noted that Reporters Without Borders has expanded and changed their assessment methodology of Global Press Freedom Rankings.
During an interview on “The Probe” on Joy News on May 5, 2024, she discussed the factors that Reporters Without Borders considers when ranking countries’ press freedom. She also highlighted that Ghana’s ranking improved from 62nd to 50th out of 180 countries.
Madam Abubakar explained that Reporters Without Borders is responsible for the Global Press Freedom ranking and does not compare rankings based on different methodologies. She mentioned that, before 2022, the focus of the press freedom ranking was primarily on interactions between the press and the government activities.
“We are creating a conducive environment for the media to operate in any given jurisdiction,” she added.
Fatimatu Abubakar explained that, since 2022, Reporters Without Borders has expanded and changed its assessment methodology to include the activities of all stakeholders within the media landscape.
”They now examine social indicators, political indicators, security indicators, legislative indicators, and the safety of journalists. She emphasized that, given the regime in place since the 1992 Constitution, censorship has been removed, and the unfettered rights of journalists and free press are guaranteed”.
“You’ll find that the majority—over 90%—of media houses in Ghana are not owned by the government, so their salaries, conditions of service, and other issues related to their welfare are not determined by the government but by individual media houses and their owners,” she said.
Fatimatu Abubakar also indicated that, as a Ministry and key stakeholders within the information or media sector, they seek to resolve the challenges faced by journalists and the media space as a whole. She added that if the conversation revolves solely around safety, achieving safety is a good start, but it is not enough to reach their ultimate goals.
She pointed out that many issues have arisen over time, and it is important to follow the activities of the Ministry to tailor interventions, government communications, and policy drives to resolve these issues.
“If you examine the security indicator, which concerns the safety of journalists, one approach to address it is through the introduction of a coordinating mechanism for the safety of journalists in collaboration with the National Media Commission,” she explained.
