draft.

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 17^th 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.

References:

Hasty, J. (2006). Performing power, composing culture: The state press in Ghana. Ethnography.

Sandbrook, R. (1996) Transitions without Consolidation: Democratization in six African cases. Third world quarterly 17(1:69-87)

Takougang, J. (1995) The Press and the Democratization process in Africa: The case of the Republic of Cameroon. Journal of third world studies 12(2):326-49.

Hasty, J. (2005). The Press and Political Culture in Ghana. Indiana University Press..

UNESCO (1998) UNESCO Statistical Yearbook 1998.Paris: UNESCO.

Villalon, L. (1998). The African State at the End of the Twentieth Century:Parameters of critical juncture(,pp.3-26 in L.A.Villalonand P.A.Huxtable(eds). The African State at the Critical Juncture.

Human Rights Watch, report (1999):http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno1-3

Valeria, D. (2010). Media freedom: publisher Danubius University

McDonnel, J. (1991). PSB London and Newyork: Routledge

Davila, V. (2006): Freedom of the pressman component of freedom of expression. Caras-Severin Court.

Sterling S., O'Brien J., and Bennett J. (2007), “Advancement through Interactive Radio” Information Systems Frontiers: Volume 11 Issue 2, April 2009

McFarland, S. & Melissa, M. (2006). Who cares about Human Rights. University of Connecticut

MacFarland, S. (2005).  Political Psychology. Western Kentucky University

Gbcghana.com: Government condemns attacks on journalists by security personnel. Retrieved: 8^th March 2013 from www.mediafound.org

Citifmnews. Journalists attacked at NDC Congress: 2012 from www.citifmonline.con.

http://eth.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/1/69.published by Sage publications

Meiklejohn, A. (1960) Political Freedom:the Constitutional  Powers of the People .New York:Harper.

Mills, J.S. (1978) On liberty. Indianapolis, IN:Hackett.

Joy News:Journalists NPP apologises to Multimedia for attacks on its journalists: Retrieved: December 13 2012 from www.myjoyonline.com.

Hhttp:www.ghanabusiness.com/2012/12/13/media-foundation-condemns-npp-attacks-on journalists/#sthash.GaDAcZaQ.dpuf by Media Foundation for West Africa

http://www.allghananews.com/general-news/3939-gja-condmns-police-attacks-on-journalist##ixzz2YXWVWP3F7 by Ghana Journalists Association

International Human Rights in Context Law, Politics, MoralsThird Edition

Henry J. Steiner, Harvard Law School, Harvard University, Philip Alston, New York University

School of Law, and Ryan Goodman, Harvard Law School, Harvard University

The third edition of International

Amartya Sen (2005) is Lamont University Professor at Harvard University,

Cambridge, MA, USA

Posted by George Asekere at 03:02 No comments: