Managing Editor of the Custodian Newspaper, Awudu Mahama, has attributed Ghana’s drastic drop in the press freedom index to the poor economic conditions of journalists in country.
According to him, poor salaries paid to journalists in the country results in them engaging in unscrupulous activities to care for themselves and their families, disregarding the principles of journalism along the way.
“We have media houses which do not pay their reporters anything at all. Because of this, they do all they can to get money even if it’s against journalistic standards. Because they want to survive, they do all sort of things and this can bring attacks on journalists,” he stated.
In the Editors’ Take Edition of the Happy Morning Show with Samuel Eshun, Awudu Mahama called for a review of conditions of service for journalists to ensure improved economic conditions.
Ghana has been ranked 60th in the world from an initial 30th position, the country’s lowest in nearly two decades in the Reporters Without Borders 2022 World Press Freedom Index rankings.
Ghana has also recorded its worst ranking on the African continent this year, moving from 3rd to 10th in Africa. Government has attributed Ghana’s poor ranking to a change in the methodology.
The government statement however focused heavily on the methodology used by RSF in the ranking, noting that the change in methodology significantly accounted for the drop.
“It is worthy of note that Ghana’s dip in ranking was largely influenced by two of the new parameters, namely, the Economic Context and Safety of Journalists where the country scored 47.22% and 62.25% respectively,” the statement from the Information Ministry also read.
Regarding the safety of journalists, government noted that an activity that may feed into the assessment of press freedom includes actions by non-state actors.
Government further indicated that it is set to roll out strategic plans to improve Ghana’s image on the international press freedom index.
By: Joel Sanco
