A DECADE AFTER THE REPEAL OF THE
CRIMINAL LIBEL LAW AND ITS LEGACY TO MEDIA FREEDOM.
Tuesday
9th August, 2011, marked a decade since the obnoxious media gagging
law; the Criminal Libel Law was expunged from the statute books of Ghana by
Parliament in 2001. Many a Ghanaian will look back and say the abolition of the
law was a blessing to the realisation of the media freedom being enjoyed
currently in Ghana. Credit should therefore go to the then Attorney General and
Minister of Justice, Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo Addo, former President John
Agyekum Kufour, and civil societies, for making sure that
law became history.
The
repeal according to journalists and media houses who bore the brunt of
governments which saw their activities as a threat to their stewardships, as a
way of freeing them from the oppressions they encountered in discharging their
rightful duties. The repeal of the law has given journalists and media houses
the freedom to speak, write or express their views on issues and activities on
going in the country without being arrested or barred from operating which
hitherto was clearly absent.
Although
the repeal of the criminal libel law was seen as the beginning of the freedom
of the press, questions have been raised concerning the abuse of media freedom
in the country. There have been instances where media houses and journalists
have been hauled before the law courts for defaming individuals and organizations
for not cross checking their facts properly before printing or
broadcasting stories about them. The media also has come under criticisms for
fanning ethnic, religious, and political tensions in the country. The use of
insulting language by politicians and sympathizers of political parties on radio
and television has been cited as one of the abuses of the media freedom.
The
ball now is in the court of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) and the
National Media Commission (NMC), to deal decisively with any media house or
journalist who goes contrary to the ethics of their profession. In as much as
there have been some abuses in the freedom being enjoyed by the media, one
cannot expect that the nation reverts back to its former days when journalists
were abducted from their homes and media houses been littered with human
excreta “shit bombed”.
Ghana
has come very far in its quest in making the media landscape free from external
pressures, and I will dare say the freedom enjoyed by our media ranks amongst
the best if not the best on the African continent though with more room for
improvement. Failure on the part of
media houses and journalists to do a self appraisal of their works, and
ultimately preserving their freedom would render the price paid by some media
houses and journalists in their struggle
in seeing Ghana as a free society a futile one.
May
the souls of all those who died in the struggle for media freedom rest in
perfect peace, and never should this nation go back into the dark days of media
persecution and intimidation?
ERIC
OTENG JESSE
SANTA
MARIA, ACCRA
CT3652
CANTONMENTS- ACCRA.
