After 20 years of democratic
governance, there are a number of people who are still wondering whether the
Ghanaian press truly has the freedom to ply their vocation of informing and
educating people and also promoting and defending individual rights and liberties.
Until the repeal of the Criminal Libel
and Seditious Laws by the NPP government in 2011, fear and intimidation made it
practically difficult for journalists to exercise their right to operate
freely. This affected the press’s role of informing and educating the people of
their rights and freedoms
According to Gymah-Boadi, the PNDC government
under J.J. Rawlings silenced all independent newspapers which were on the
stands during its era. Journalists who were critical of the government suffered
abuses of all kinds including, imprisonment, torture, verbal abuse and
destruction of their equipment. Some media houses were also banned from
practicing.Notable among these include: the Post, the Catholic Standard, the
Palaver, Punch, Echo, Direction and the Workers Banner.
The press according to, Gadzakpo, plays
a very important role in deepening democracy in Ghana. This she says it does
through criticism of government and abuse of human rights. Gadzakpo then
wondered how development can thrive in Africa without a vibrant press to
curtail undemocratic behavior of those who govern. According to her regrettable
that when the press exposes corruption, incompetence and waste in government,
they are usually not credited but rather regarded as enemies of progress. This notwithstanding
Gadzakpo, maintains that the media contribute their quota towards ensuring
effective, transparent and accountable governance. She suggests that for the
press to be able to live up to its social responsibility, it is incumbent upon
it not only to inform the people about government programmes and policies but
also criticize it. She stressed the need for the press to lead the crusade
against corruption as well as injustices that have bedeviled society. This
assertion further consolidates the argument that the press plays a crucial role
in development hence any intimidation on the press has a riffle effect on
development.
According Kenneth Roth (2012) government
loyalists dominates the broadcast media in many parts of Africa. As a result of
this the governments harass individuals or pro-opposition media with
prohibitive penalties for civil defamation, criminal penalties for libels
unidentified attacks on journalists who write about controversial subjects.
These according to him make it very difficult for journalists to contribute
their quota to development. He admits there has been improvement hence the need
for journalists to work harder especially in areas that they found it difficult
to write on in the past.
Statement
of the problem:
The 1992 Constitution
(Government of Ghana 1992) devotes a full chapter to freedom and independence
of the media. The constitution makes it explicitly clear that there shall be no
interference from external sources including government agencies. In fact, the
constitution says that nobody shall determine the editorial opinion of editors.
Also editors and journalists shall not be harassed or intimidated for their
editorial opinion.
Years after the repeal of the
Criminal Libel and Seditious Laws, it has been argued that the media is in the
position to promote and defend the rights of the populace.
Apart from the Constitution the government of Ghana in its effort to
enhance the performance of the media through on- the- job training for practicing
journalists instituted the Media Development Fund in 2012 as a means of
developing the human resource capacity of journalists.. This Fund according, the
government aims at equipping journalists in carrying out their responsibilities
Beside these there are efforts by institutions
and other groups to guard the freedom of the press. One of the nine Justices
that sat on the 2012 presidential election petition at the Supreme Court
Justice, said the Court supports freedom of the media and that it will be the
last to gag journalists in their work.
Given the importance of the press to the promotion and
protection of human rights in Ghana, it is very important to determine whether
the press who are suppose to be the watchdogs of society including human rights
give adequate coverage to human rights issues in terms of frequency,
consistency, prominence and even content.
Objective
of the study.
The objective of this study is to
highlight the fact that although there are laws that protect journalists in
carrying out their watchdog role of society, the media in Ghana has not had
that freedom they need to fully operate well. As a result of this the media has
not highlighted a lot on human rights. The press has also not made human rights
issues a major priority. To arrive at this claim the study analysed the front
page stories from 2010 to 2012. In so doing the study looked at the number of
times that the Ghanaian Times newspaper reported on issues that dealt on human
rights on its front pages.
Justification
for choosing the Ghanaian Times Newspaper.
The Ghanaian Times is one of the
state owned newspapers in Ghana with a very high circulation rate. As a state
owned press, the paper’s motive is not profit maximization but to get the
people informed about happenings in the country and particularly on issues
about government policies so that they can know their rights and contribute
their quota to the development of the nation. It is therefore necessary to use
a state own paper for the purpose of examining the rate at which it reports on
human right issues especially because in Ghana the state has since independence
taken the lead in championing virtually
everything including employment, health and education.
Outline
of the study.
The study is made up of three main parts. The first chapter is
the introduction which dealt with the rights of media practitioners, the laws
that guarantee those rights, how the media has really performed in both the
time of no freedom and also during the time of freedom and constitutional rule. It also looked at the statement of the
research problem. Chapter two which is summary of the study and presents the
methods used the observations and discussions. Chapter three which is the final
chapter looked at the conclusion and recommendation of the work.
The next stage will focus on a
review of literature. It will be in two parts. The first will be studies on the
press and the second will be studies on human rights.
Studies
on the press:
According to Phillips DP (1991)
efficient, undistorted communication of the results of medical research is very
important to physicians, the entire scientific community and the general
public. He asserts that information that first appears in the scientific
literature is frequently retransmitted in the popular press. This role of the
press he noted has contributed significantly to the work of scientist and the
general public.
According to Sanbrook, (1996) it is
difficult if not impossible for anyone to conceive of democratic consolidation
without taking cognizance of a vibrant press and a strong party communication
system. He argued that since the 17th century scholars have tried to
justify the positive relationship between the press and democratic practices.
In a related study on the press, Milton
asserted that a free press promotes the cause of democracy by performing
watchdog functions over governments, and through this role the press prevents
governments from abusing power. Sharing the view of Milton, Gurevtch and
Blumler went ahead to view the press as also performing monitoring role. They
state that without this function of the press and free speech, it will be
difficult if not impossible to sustain freedom and human rights, liberty, property,
true religion, arts, science, learning and knowledge.
Meiklejohn (1960) argued that democracy
the world over is based on the notion of what he calls ‘popular sovereignty’.
He said for democracy to serve its purpose it requires that the citizens are
properly informed to enable them to participate in the political process and
thus contribute their quota to decision making. He noted that it takes a free
and vibrant press to enable citizens to have access to a variety of issues on
the basis on which they can intend make informed political decisions. Meiklejohn
argues that the press also provides the avenue for the public to air their
views. This according to Meiklejohn increases the chances for truth to emerge
and to shape politics.
Masmoundi (1992), notes that there
is a connection between democracy and that a free press provides an opportunity
for citizens to influence the political process. To him, a free press enables
political leaders to be aware of the mood of society so that they can respond
appropriately. He liked the press to the mirror which he argued reflects the
general orientation of political life and the microscope which allows citizens
to pay attention to different national activities and by expressing their
opinion, contribute to the nation building process.
Zaffiro (1993) admits that the press
has emerged as one of the most significant avenues for expressing democratic ideas
as well as criticism of authoritarian rules. He contends that this forum has
provided the opportunity for voices that would otherwise have been unknown to
be heard. Zaffiro states that the
activities of the press has led to practical reforms in many countries in
Africa in the late 1980s and also the re-emergence of independent press which
has further accelerated the pace of democratic
reforms in the continent. He for instance attributes the emergence of an
atmosphere of democratic fervor in Cameroon in the early 1990s to the coverage
given to incidents of authoritarian excesses visited on pro-democracy activists
by the Paul Biya regime. Also he argued that the transition to multi- party
democratic rule in Tanzania was occasioned mainly by the pages of the then
newly established independent newspaper- ‘and these were politely worded
rational arguments from the pens of academics and lawyers’. Zaffiro further argued that the press has been very
active in exposing activities within the state that would otherwise remain
hidden. Through this work of the press the people are able to measure the
pronouncement of politicians and measure it against their deeds and hence make
informed judgement about the political future of those individuals. According
to him the likelihood of exposure is also necessary in, at least, making
government officials more circumspect in whatever they do. He believes this
role of the press has led to what he terms’ a certain measure of imposed
accountability on the part of these officials which they did not have to worry
about in the past’.
Additionally Zaffiro stated that the
press has taken the lead in setting the agenda for various investigative bodies
to take up cases of alleged corruption, abuse of human rights and excess in the
state apparatus. He quoted a journalist from Cameroon has having said ‘that the
press is thus like a house-fly: it has the habit of being around when things
starts stinking’.
Whilst acknowledging the vital role
of the press in democratization, it must be said that the press has a lot of
challenges that militate against its smooth operations. Sandbrook (1996:p70)
argued that ‘Africa’s harsh conditions, legacies and conjectural factors’
impede the work of the press. He maintained that despite the crucial role the
press plays in nation building, a lot of governments on the continent continue
to impose judicial and extra judicial barriers on journalists and media houses,
in a manner that which defeats the professed goals of democratic governance and
the brain behind the constitutional provisions and other measures that seek to
ensure press freedom. Sandbrook cited some of the things that are inimical to
smooth operation of the press in Africa as continued existence of anachronistic
laws on libel and sedition, censorship, physical harassment of journalists and
attacks on their premises and destruction of their equipment, denying them access
to inputs and audiences as well as debilitating laws
According to Freedom House, Africa
had only 6 free press nations as at 1998, 17 that were partly free and 29 that
were not free at the time. The criterion for determining whether a media outlet
is allowed to operate freely without intimidation is, therefore, not the
constitutional provision of freedom of expression or freedom of the press or
even the variety of its reporting. Freedom House notes that, the parameters
used in determining whether a press outlet is free or not continue to be
determined by how well the contents of that particular press portray power brokers in a positive or, at
least, neutral light. The house added that where these state or regime defined
criteria are not obeyed; the full wrath of the repressive apparatus is visited on targeted journalists
or press house. These unhealthy developments according to Freedom House are
taking place even though there are legal channels for addressing concerns of
the press
In a related study on the press McFarland
(2007) admitted that 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. They held that the citizens
can only demand accountability if they are aware of their rights which are
partly the responsibility of the press.
McFarland & Melissa Mathews (2006) argued
that 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.
In a similar study Daniela Valeria (2006) argued that states cannot develop
without the existence of freedom of
expression beyond any state frontier.
She contends that the media is supposed to set the agenda on issues that are
paramount and capable of transforming the lives of the citizenry. The issues
could cover every facet of national live. She argued that if the press is not
free, it cannot defend the rights of others.
Studies on human rights:
According to Amartya Sen (2005) there
are many human rights that can be viewed as rights to particular capabilities.
He argued however that, human rights and freedom cannot be sufficiently
analysed within the capability framework. To him, both human rights and human
capabilities are dependent on public reasoning. He contended that the moral
appeal of human rights has been used for different purposes, from strongly
resisting torture and arbitrary incarceration to demanding the end of hunger
and the neglect of medical care. He states that there is no country in the
world-from China, South Africa and Egypt to Mexico, Britain and the United
States-in which debates about human rights have been raised in one context or
another in contemporary political debates. Sen argues that despite the enormous
appeals of the idea of human rights, it is also noted by many as being
intellectually frail-lacking in foundation and perhaps even in coherence and
cogency.
In his work on human rights, Mark Hodge (2013) noted that the state
ought to take the lead by protecting the interest and rights of people who come
to invest in their countries and also foster national and international respect
for both employers and employees. democracy by properly informing the public as well as
responding to society’s interest and needs. In his view failure by any state to
enforce existing laws that directly or indirectly related to business means
disrespect for the human rights of workers which could have a negative impact
on productivity. Hodge advocated for non-discriminatory
labour laws that will factor in the environment, property, privacy to enable
all people particularly workers to have absolute freedom to operate.
In a similar study, Margot Wallstrom (2013) argued that it is mandatory
for states to respect human rights as enshrined in their various constitutions.
States must also respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of individuals
within their territories. These rights, according to Wallstrom, include the
duty to protect against human right abuses by third parties including business entrepreneurs.
He argued that states should generally have discretion in deciding opon the
steps they should consider in an effort to promote human rights through
legislations, regulations and adjudication. The Institute equally stresses the
need for attention to be [aid to the
risk to human right issues like sexual and gender-base violence.
According to the Institute for Human
Rights and Business, responsible businesses increasingly seek guidance from
states about how to avoid contributing to human right harms in different
contests. The Institute suggests practical and innovative approaches by
businesses to operate in a manner that will not lead to abuse of human rights
including the rights of consumers and minors.
In the view of Kenneth Roth (2013)
building human rights can be a painstaking work. To him, there will be the need
for police units and trained public officials as well as an educated populace
to truly uphold human rights and the rule of law. According to him, international
human right laws prohibit the subordination of people on the basis of not only
race, ethnicity, religion and political views but also gender. That is it
forbids forcing women to assume a submissive, secondary status in society. Roth, argues that it will take education to
change this practice and believe.
Theoretical framework:
This work is premised on the Social
Responsibility Theory. According to this theory the media upholds free expression
and press freedom. But press freedom is not absolute: it imposes the obligation
to adequately represent all shades of political and social opinion as fairly as
possible so that the public may decide. According to this theory, the media has
the right to criticize government and other institutions; it own it a duty to
preserve Beside the theory contends that society and the public have the right
to expect a high standard of performance in the interest of the public. Failure
on the part of the press in this regard offers justification for any agency of
the public to interfere to secure the public good. That is to make the press
recognize and fulfil its social responsibility.
From this theory, one can conclude
that the press has the duty to report on all issues that affect human lives
including issues on human rights. Also society has a responsibility of helping
the press to perform its function for the good of both. The press therefore
ought to give priority to human rights stories just like any other stories
CHAPTER
TWO
METHODOLOGY/
FINDINGS
This work relied on secondary data
by examining the Ghanaian Times Publications on Human Rights between 2010 and
2012. It also relied on interviews by the President of the Ghana Journalists
Association on his take on the state of the Ghanaian Press and Human Rights.
The years 2010, 2011 and 2012 were
chosen because 2012 was an election year where I believe a lot of human right
issues were raised by politicians, civil society groups and other stakeholders.
The two other years were chosen because they proceeded the election year so one
would expect some consistency on the part of the authoritative actors as the
nation prepared for the 2012 election. 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.
Analysis
The work looked at human rights
stories that appeared on the front pages of the Ghanaian Times newspaper
between 2010 and 2012. For the purpose of this analysis human right stories
refer to stories that talked about human rights in the areas of abuse, murder,
torture, forced marriages, rape, incest, abuses by security personal as well as
reports on what officialdom said they were doing about human rights and
personal initiative by journalists to educate people on their rights. I
undertake its occurrence by counting the number of human right stories done by
the paper monthly over the three year period on its front pages.
FINDINGS
The study found out that between
January 2010 and December 2012, human rights stories were not given enough
publicity in the front pages of the Ghanaians Times newspaper.
YEAR
2010:
In 2010 only 35 human interest
stories appeared on the front pages of the Ghanaian Times newspaper. The study
observed that March, June, October and November recorded the highest number of
human interest stories on the paper’s front page with four stories each in
those four months. February, May, July and August had only two human rights
stories in the papers front pages.
YEAR
2011:
The study found out that in 2011,
the paper published 71 stories on human rights in its front pages which were
about twice what it did in 2010. August 2011 recorded the highest of 11 front
page stories on human rights. It was followed by November with 10 stories, July
with 9 stories; March recorded 8 stories followed by June with 7 stories.
September recorded the lower figure of only two human right stories in the
paper’s font page
YEAR
2012:
In 2012, there was a further
improvement of stories on human rights published on the front pages of the
Ghanaian Times. The year recorded 77 stories which were greater than the 2011
figure of 71. In May 2012, 14 human rights stories were able to attract front
pages of the paper followed by 11 in December, 9 in November and June, 8 in
April, 7 in September, 6 in October, 5in January, 3 in August, 2 each in
February and March. July 2012 recorded only one human right story on the
paper’s front page.
It was further observed that human
right stories kept increasing year by year even though one would have expected
a greater increase. From 35 in 2010, it increased to 71 in 2011 and then to 77
in 2012.
It was observed also that there
could be three weeks in a month without the paper doing any story on human
rights.
The study also found that most of
the human interest stories came from the areas of forced marriages, abuses
meted out on people by security personnel mainly the police, murder, rape,
court pronouncements and government officials comments on human rights as well
as what is being done by the state to enhance human rights in the county.
|
Year
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
Total
|
|
January
|
3
|
3
|
5
|
11
|
|
February
|
2
|
4
|
2
|
8
|
|
March
|
4
|
8
|
2
|
14
|
|
April
|
3
|
5
|
8
|
16
|
|
May
|
2
|
4
|
14
|
20
|
|
June
|
4
|
7
|
9
|
20
|
|
July
|
2
|
9
|
1
|
12
|
|
August
|
2
|
11
|
3
|
16
|
|
September
|
2
|
2
|
7
|
11
|
|
October
|
4
|
3
|
6
|
13
|
|
November
|
4
|
10
|
9
|
23
|
|
December
|
3
|
5
|
11
|
19
|
|
Total
|
35
|
71
|
77
|
183
|
CHAPTER THREE:
CONCLUSION
AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
CONCLUSION:
There has been a remarkable
improvement in the work of the press in Africa and Ghana in particular. Also
governments in the continents have enacted a lot of laws aimed at ensuring the
freedom and independence of the press. Journalists are also aware of the
freedom they enjoy and this has led to the increase in the number of
independent press outlets. Civil society
has also come to realise the need to safeguard the freedom and independence of
the press. Again governments have come to accept criticisms of the press as way
of deepening democracy.
Despite all these the press has not
used the atmosphere of freedom to promote human rights stories. This was
realised when this study analysed front page stories in the Ghanaian Times
newspaper from 2010 to 2012.
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that newsmakers
make human rights issues key in their speeches since journalists in Ghana dwell
more on ‘who makes the news and not the news’. Also the editorial boards of the
state owned press should create news desks that will focus on human rights as
they do for political, environment, health and business.
It is also recommended that stories
that are taken from the court should be followed up in later days to ascertain
development after a court verdict. For instance journalists should follow up on
the lives of people who assault their wives or husbands and are punished by the
court to see if they have repented after the court punishment.
Also ex-convicts should be
interviewed periodically to ascertain if indeed they have been reformed by the
prisons. They could also be interviewed to narrate their ordeal in the prisons
to serve as deterrents to potential criminals.
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Amartya
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at Harvard University,
Cambridge,
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