Ghana must develop its own index, how can Burkina Faso be ahead of us in press freedom - Adom Otchere

Adom Otchere suggests 2022 press freedom lacks context

Press freedom index developed by Ghana will give the right feel, Journalist

Burkina Faso ranked ahead of Ghana in 2022 World Press Freedom Index

Renowned broadcast journalist, Paul Adom Otchere, has questioned how Burkina Faso, a country under military dictatorship, was ranked ahead of Ghana in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index.

Adom Otchere suggested that there is no way journalists in Burkina Faso will have more liberty to perform their duties than journalists in Ghana.

According to him, the press freedom index which is computed by Reporters Without Borders failed to address issues pertaining to Ghana and therefore the country should come up with its own index.

“… the way forward is what Gyan Apenteng (Former Chairman of the National Media Commission) has said, we have to develop our own index. We will be able to put in these contexts that give us the real feel.

“You are telling us that Burkina Faso journalists under military junta are freest than Ghanaian journalists? The complaints must be reduced to own one context,” he is quoted to have said on TV3’s ‘Key Points’ programme.

Ghana ranked 60th out of 180 countries in the 2022 World Press Freedom index. This shows that Ghana has dropped 30 places in the world from its previous 30th position, and it also fell by six places from its previous third position in Africa.

Burkina Faso, which has been under Military rule for almost a year, was ranked ahead of Ghana as 41st in the world and 5th in Africa.

The report indicated that for journalists in Ghana to protect their jobs and security, they mostly resort to self-censorship, as the government is intolerant of criticism.

Stakeholders in the media landscape in Ghana have described the performance as the worst in the last 17 years and have attributed the poor performance to the murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale and the criminalisation of speech which has led to recent arrests of some media personalities in the country.

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