From Caesar Abagali, GNA Special Correspondent, Washington DC

Washington DC, Oct. 26, GNA - Ghana and Mali have been commended in the United States for their outstanding records on the prevalence of media freedom.

Mr Charles Overby, Executive Officer of the US Newseum, made the commendation on Monday when he addressed participants of the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) for journalists in Washington DC, USA.

The three-week Edward R. Murrow programme for journalists has brought together some 150 emerging leaders in the field of journalism from around the world to examine journalistic practices in the United States.

The US Newseum is a high-tech and interactive museum tracing the history of news reporting from the 16th century to the present day and also examines the level of press freedom across countries of the world on constant basis.

The countries are marked red, yellow and green to indicate the level of press freedom. Red means no press freedom, yellow is for partial press freedom and green means total press freedom. Mr Overby, who is also the chairman of the Freedom Forum of the United States, said: "Ghana and Mali in sub-Saharan Africa are green on the Newseum's chart for world press freedom, which is a remarkable achievement for Africa and should be an example for media freedom for the rest of the continent.

"Even the United States is yellow on the chart but this is not to say that there is government control of the media, it only regulates the media," he stressed, saying for countries in Africa to record green indicates that there is hope for media development. Mr Overby said Finland, Norway and Iceland were top on the chart in the world while Ghana, Mali and Chad were the only countries in Africa to be among the green countries recorded in the Newseum. He said it was human nature for people in power to control the media to continue to stay in power adding, "it requires governmental courage to allow press freedom."

Mr Overby who spoke on the topic: "The future of journalism and the value of the fourth estate", said the future was bright for journalism in the world since modern technology would make it difficult for governments to control the operations of the media. He explained that online news such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, mobile radio and television were becoming increasingly patronised, which would make it difficult for governments to monitor and control news content and dissemination.

Mr Overby said newspapers, radio and television were no longer the only mediums for information dissemination, pointing out that newspapers had reduced circulation and radio listenership was down because of online news.

He advised participants of the IVLP to return to their respective countries, especially countries that had no press freedom, to help advocate to achieve absolute media independence. The IVLP seeks to build mutual understanding through carefully designed visits that reflect visitors' professional interests. 26 Oct. 10