Media Not Under Siege -Says NMC Boss

Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo

The Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, says he cannot conclude emphatically that the media are under siege in Ghana as being claimed by opponents of the government.

Mr. Boadu-Ayeboafo, speaking yesterday in Accra on the topic: “Is the media under siege?” at the 2nd Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) 70th Anniversary Lecture, said, “I cannot conclude with certainty or definitiveness that the media are under siege and that the present circumstance is not conducive to the practice of journalism in freedom and independence.”

He said “I think that if you say that the media has come under attack, it is different from suggesting that the media have been besieged,” adding “indeed, if you are besieged you would have been so incapacitated that you are unable to defend yourself.”

While admitting that there have been attacks on the media, he indicated that all of these attacks were unwarranted in the face of the legal regime that guarantees media freedom.

“But does that mean that we are besieged? If we are besieged, we will not be able to tell some of the stories that we have been telling about the brutalities that have been meted out to us,” he added.

Mr. Boadu-Ayeboafo, a lawyer, said incidents of media attacks like the senseless brutality of Latif Iddrisu and the murder of Ahmed Suale although needless, abominable and condemnable, should be looked at independently instead of lumping them together and blaming the state for such reprehensible acts.

“Where such bestiality has formalism such as the brutality against Latif and the ludicrous demand by the police that he identifies the perpetrators, it is fair to blame the state because in such situations what happens to the victim are the things that Bishop Desmond Tutu describes as victimizing the victim twice,” he explained.

He reiterated that today no journalist can be detained for hours before it becomes an issue for public discourse.

“This is why no matter the number of attacks on media personnel, the media cannot be said to be under siege. For it is through the same media that the matter of these unlawful acts would be exposed to enable the victims to regain their independence.

“Today, no groups or individuals, no matter how powerful or influential they are, can emasculate or enmesh the media,” he stressed.

The NMC boss while applauding the initiative of the Ministry of Information to develop a manual for the safety of journalists and media in the country charged media professionals to learn from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) when it submits that “a story is not worth the life of a journalist. Journalists must learn to survive to avoid injury, jail, expulsion or any of the other perils of our profession and still get the story.” 

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri