Editorial: Attacks on journalists must stop now
Last Sunday, November 2, 2014 marked the ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists’.
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The Day, which was instituted at the 68th Session of the United Nations (UN) in December, 2013, was aimed at commemorating the courage of journalists across the world and creating awareness of crimes committed against them.
The day was also to celebrate two French journalists on assignment in Mali who were abducted by gunmen and murdered on November 2, 2013.
According to the United Nations, a total of 700 journalists have been killed in their line of work in the world over the last 10 years.
In Ghana, statistics by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) indicates that a total of 138 cases of violations against journalists were recorded from 2005 to 2013.
The MFWA went ahead to say that the security agencies were the worst perpetrators of crimes against journalists in the country.
The second offenders of crime against journalists, it identified, were political party affiliates followed by individuals and then state officials.
The above statistics for a country that is ranked among free press countries is worrying.
The Daily Graphic adds its voice to that of the UN for such acts of impunity for crimes against journalists to end and for society to respect the rights of journalists.
The 1992 Constitution devoted a whole chapter to the Freedom and Independence of the Media. The inclusion of that chapter was not just for the sake of adding up to the numbers but was premised on the crucial role of journalists in a democracy.
Enough evidence abounds of the role the media have played and continue to play in the democratic and development processes of any country.
In spite of some excesses on some occasions, the overall performance of the media has been commendable.
But the media cannot continue to carry out their mandate if their safety is not guaranteed, and regrettably the security agencies who should be the closest ally of the media and who should provide them with security are the worst offenders.
It is the hope of the Daily Graphic that the years ahead would see the elimination of all forms of violence against journalists.
This way, the media would live up to their mandate and play their defined role towards the development of our society.
However, we appeal to journalists to examine some of their actions that occasioned the assaults on them.
The Daily Graphic cannot be oblivious of certain acts of omission on the part of journalists that have necessitated the attacks on the media.
Everybody acknowledges the role of the media in nation building but the solution to media infractions does not provide the licence for the utter disregard for our laws.
The Constitution that guarantees media freedom also provides the direction to seek redress for any unlawful act.
The Daily Graphic condemns all acts of aggression against journalists but equally reminds all media practitioners to exercise the freedom of the press with responsibility in order to remain relevant in our development endeavours.
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