Yaw Ayeboafuor, NMC Chairman
Ghana has placed an enviable No 3 in Africa on the Press Freedom Index organised by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in their 2021 ranking.
Of the five top African countries out of the countries surveyed globally, Namibia was 24, Cape Verde 27, Ghana 30, South Africa (32) and Burkina Faso (37).
Eritrea (180) according to the report “is now the worst performing country in the world, swapping positions with North Korea (179). The two nations, along with Turkmenistan (178) and China (177) are perennial losers on the RSF index.”
The report pointed out that “the media is entirely controlled in these four countries. Turkmenistan and North Korea, for example, are able to claim they have no COVID-19 cases, and Eritrea has “maintained complete silence about the fate of 11 journalists who were arrested 20 years ago, some of whom have allegedly been held in metal containers in the middle of a desert.”
Expatiating on the survey, the report has this: “two of the barometers for this are the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) annual World Press Freedom Index, which measures the state of media freedom in 180 countries, and the annual Edelman Trust Barometer, which looks at levels of trust in business, governments, NGOs and media.”
Some of the index’s gains, the report went on, are African nations. “Sierra Leone moved up 10 places to 75 on the list, after the repeal of a criminal libel law that stifled free speech. Mali rose nine places to 99, by cutting down on the number of abuses perpetrated against journalists. Burundi moved up 13 places to 147, with their most notable change being the presidential pardons and release from jail of four journalists from IWACU, “one of the country’s last independent media outlets.”
About China, the report pointed out that strictures on the media in that country are ominous, explaining that “government have tightened their grip on news and information even more since the emergence of COVID-19. Seven journalists are still being held for their coverage of the pandemic and more than 450 social media users were briefly arrested for sharing ‘false rumours’ about the virus.”
RSF points out though “that Africa continues to be the most violent continent for journalists to work, and, as with dictatorial governments around the world, of which China above is an example, COVID-19 has been used as a way to clamp down on press freedom.”
Ghana under then Justice Minister Akufo-Addo repealed the Criminal Libel Law as did Sierra Leone action, which has accounted for the improvement in the latter’s ranking on the index.
Ghana’s latest ranking comes on the heels of a so-called agenda of ‘culture of silence’ being perpetuated by some persons.
By A.R. Gomda