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George Asekere 10289946

THE PRESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN GHANA (2012)

Introduction and statement of the problem

The State Press constructs the authoritative social imaginary of the nation-state and human rights. Indeed, a global apparatus of professional organizations, news services, conferences, and literature links journalists all over the world in their distinctive vocation, serving not only to universalize journalism as a certain type of national discourse with homologous political and professional functionality in diverse national contexts, but also to provide ideological support for their human rights(free speech, freedom from harassment and intimidation, access to information)across those national boundaries Jennifer  Hasty(2006P7:69).

In Ghana the fundamental human rights and freedoms, and freedom and independence of the media are guaranteed in the constitution. Article 12(1&2) state: ‘The fundamental human rights and freedoms enshrined in this chapter shall be respected and upheld by the Executive, legislature and Judiciary and all other organs of government and its agencies and, where applicable to them, by all natural and legal persons in Ghana, and shall be enforceable by the Courts as provided for in this constitution .Constitution of Ghana (1992 p12). Article162 (1)Freedom and independence by the media are hereby guaranteed.(4)Editors and publishers of newspapers and other institutions of the mass media shall not be subject to control or interference by government, nor shall they be penalized or harassed for their editorial opinions and views, or the content of their publications. Constitution of Ghana(1992 p112) It is fair to mention that Article 164 of the same constitution says that these rights and freedoms are subject to the laws that are reasonably required in the interest of national security, public order, public morality and for the purpose of protecting the reputations, rights and freedoms of other persons.  After 20years of Democratic governance, however, many are still wondering whether the Ghanaians Press has the freedom to operate in all spheres of national life including the right of the pressmen to freely express their opinion on issues of human rights. Reference can be made to the assaults of pressmen

of the State owned Ghanaian Times and Daily Graphic newspapers on Ghana’s Independence Day -6^th March 2013(www.mediafound.org) and the sentencing of the editor in chief of the Daily Searchlight News Paper, Ken Kuranchie, for Criminal contempt by the 9member bench that sat on the 2012 Presidential Election Petition.....the freedom of the press, as component of freedom of expression, is an essential freedom related to the very nature of a democratic society it assures the free debate of information and ideas, grace to pluralism of the sources of information it offers. In 2012, the Volta Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association was assaulted by some personnel of the Regional Police Command in Ho (www.alghananews.com). The expression of freedom of the press also contains obligations and liberties, which are circumscribed to the limits the freedom of expression bears in its exercise Daniela Valeria (2010 p57).  Again questions are being asked if the Press has been able to educate and inform the people about their rights and whether they even make Human Rights issues pivotal in their reportage. It is also argued that until the repel of the criminal libel and seditious laws under the regime of John Agyekum Kufuor (President of Ghana 2000-2008) fear and intimidation made it practically difficult for journalists to exercise their right to operate fully let alone educate and inform the people of their rights.

Today the criminal and seditious laws are no more in our status books; the Ghana Journalists Association’s Code of Ethics also has absolute room for the protection of the rights of journalists and gives guidelines on how issues of human rights should be tackled. Also the Supreme Court has made it clear that it will be the last to gag journalists in their work (Justice Jones Doche, July 2 201). But are these rules and expressed commitment mere rhetoric or real?

This work seeks to examine the state of the freedom of the media as enshrined in the constitution of 1992. It also intends to analyse how the state owned Ghanaian Times Newspaper reported issues on Human Rights in 2012- the frequency of reportage, the areas in the newspaper that human rights issues appeared and the reasons if possible why the paper did that.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

After 20years of Democratic governance in Ghana under the 1992 constitution the press has been criticized for not prioritising issues of human rights:

It is true that there has been 20 years of democratic practice in Ghana under a constitution that devotes a full chapter to freedom and independence of the media. It is also true that the criminal libel and seditious law existed in the constitution between 1992 and 2001.This law was used against journalists some of whom felt intimidated for expression their constitutional rights of lawfully playing their watchdog role under the cover of freedom and independence of the media enshrined in the constitution.

After the repeal of the criminal libel and seditious laws journalists have still suffered under the hands of security personnel detailed to high profiled politicians. Reference can be made to the attacks on Metro TV crew at the residence of former president Kufuor (www.citifmonline.com) .As if to equalize the political or high profile attacks, some journalists were also attacked by guards of former president Rawlings at the Sunyani delegates congress that elected late president Mills for the 2012 election (www.citifmonline.con). Journalists of the state own Ghanaian Times news paper was also assaulted by security men at the 2013 Independence Day parade (www.myjoyonline.com). The citizens whose interest the journalists seek to protect is equally guilty of attacks on journalists. Reference can be made to the attacks on Joy FM, Metro TV and TV3 journalists by aggrieved supported of the NPP after the 2012 election results were officially declared (www.myjoyonline.com). The list is endless.

In the midst of all these have journalists been able to write fully about human rights issues in the last 20 years? I there seek to explore these issues in context by looking at the state of the freedom of the press one hand and human rights issues on the other hand.

The issues being raised despites all these challenges of the media are:

1. The press reportage on human rights issues are not enough compared to other issues like partisan politics.

2. The space allocated to human rights reports are not enough.

3. The areas in the newspapers where human rights issues feature do not portray the press as prioritising human rights issues.

4. The press do not strictly follow the code of ethics of the Ghana Journalist Association on how human rights issues should be reported.

4. Is the press itself free to fully express its editorial opinion without being penalized in one way or the other?

These are some of the issues that this work seeks to explore. This work will also attempt to examine the basis for these criticisms, the challenges of the press in handling human rights issues and make recommendation for the way forward.

METHODOLOGY

I relied on secondary data-examining the Ghanaian Times Publications on Human Rights throughout the year 2012. I also used elite interview by interviewing an editor of the Ghanaians Times News paper, two reporters who did at least three stories on Human Rights in 2012 for the newspaper. Finally I Interviewed the President of the Ghana Journalists Association on his take on the state of the Ghanaian Press and Human Rights.

2012 was chosen because it was an election year where I believe a lot of human right issues were raised by politicians, civil society groups and other stakeholders. The State owned Ghanaian Times was chosen mainly because it is a state paper not motivated by profit or parochial political or ideological interest although I acknowledge that there is an enterprise dimension in the work of the paper.

LITERATURE REVIEW

In democracies, the convention is that accountability mechanisms, whether horizontal, vertical or social are designed to ensure that public services address the needs of citizens in an equitable way by empowering citizens to demand accountability from government (Sam McFarland  cited, Fox, 2007;Przeworski, 2003; Przeworski et al.,1999; O’Donnell, 1999; Schedler, 1999). However, the citizens can only demand accountability if they are aware of their rights which are partly the responsibility of the press.

Despite great advances in human rights since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations in 1948, the gaps between the UDHR's ideals and current world realities remain massive. Non de-mocratic governments, ancient enmities, religious orthodoxies, and cultural traditions all impede the advance of human rights in many places. Democratic governments that avow allegiance to human rights often find that protecting human rights abroad conflicts with their national self-interests and, in situations of grave human rights abuses, risks the lives of their own citizen soldiers. Sam McFarland, Melissa Mathews (2006 p365). Being aware of this my argument is that after 20 years  of democratic practice Ghana’s Press should be in the position to portray human rights issues  not to the level of the United States about a resemblance of a sort. ‘The democratic development of a specific society implies the pluralism of ideas and conceptions about the world and life, about social organization, about the relations between the members of the society. As social beings, people need to receive ideas and information and to express, in any form possible, their own ideas and conceptions. That is why the right to freedom of expression and implicitly the freedom of press is a component guaranteed by the international legal documents in the matters of human rights. The freedom of expression or freedom of speech is considered to be the most powerful weapon for the defence of the persons’ rights and liberties against the antidemocratic manifestations (I.R.D.O., 1994, p. 37).Freedom of expression is settled both in the reference international legal documents in the matter of human rights, and in the Constitutions of the individual states. From the regulations comprised in the international legal instruments in the matter of human rights, and from the dispositions contained in the constitutions of certain countries, one remarks that freedom of expression is designated by means of different denominations.  Daniela Valeria (2006). Bârsan,(cited by Edem E. Salormey,  2001, p. 10),argues: “one cannot conceive progress in the scientific, cultural or artistic domains without the existence of freedom of expression beyond any state frontier…”

The media is supposed to set the agenda of issues that are paramount and capable of transforming the live of the citizenry. The issues could cover every facet of national live. For the purpose of this work I limit the agenda setting role of the media to human rights and further limit the media to the print media by singling out the State Owned Ghana Times newspaper printed and published the New Times Corporation in Ghana’s capital, Accra. My argument is that if the agenda setter is not free or put differently has not got the absolute freedom to express his or her professional right to publish stories he or she deem fit for national consumption bearing in mind the limitations especially when it comes to public morality and national security, it may be professionally difficult for the journalist to focus so much on human rights issues.......’though it is a constitutional rights to demonstrate peacefull, the  media had the right to report on the happening on events on society for the general good of all(Media Foundation for West Africa-Hhttp:www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2012/12/13/media-foundation –condemns-npp-attacks-on journalists/#sthash.GaDAcZsQ.dpuf). It will be unfair, I believe, to criticise the press on inadequacies in areas of human rights without making a thorough assessment of the inherent constraints which goes beyond legalities to cultural, religious, political and economic factors.

In 2002, when attacks on members of the media appeared alarming, the President of the GJA Ransford Tetteh issued a strong worded statement: “We wish to petition the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, to lend maximum support to the call by the Volta regional branch of the GJA for investigations to be carried out into the assault by the Ho Police on the Regional Chairman of the GJA on Sunday, June 10, 2012.“We are shocked at the impunity and the level of group assault that was carried out by the police against Mr Kwawukume, who is a correspondent of the Daily Graphic newspaper, in his line of duty. This is without prejudice to what would be the outcome of the investigations.”

The statement said the GJA also noted with concern the incidence of the Police inviting editors to disclose their sources of information and referred to two recent incidences. It said: “The first involved the Editor of the Chronicle and the second involved the Editor of the New Crusading Guide, who was invited to disclose how he “intercepted” the statements made by Mr. Agbesi Woyome to the Police concerning his judgment debts payment.”  

The statement said the people’s right to know required the media to as much as possible, truthfully inform and educate members of the public on incidents or issues, whether positive or negative, happening around them.     

It said even when journalists erred in their work and their infractions were considered intolerable there could be no justification for one to either physically or verbally attack them or resort to unconstitutional means to seek redress.

The statement said the behaviour by the Police both in the case of the assault and inquisitions were definitely in breach of Article 162 (4) of the 1992 Constitution, which states unequivocally that “Editors and publishers of newspapers and other institutions of the mass media shall not be subject to control or interference by Government, nor shall they be penalized or harassed for their editorial opinions and views, or the content of their publications”.http://www.allghananews.com/general-news/3939-gja-condemns-police-attack-on-journalist##ixzz2YXVWP3F7 .