Gov't Attempts To Stifle Press, As ...

....GTV Prepares To Bar Journalists From Breakfast Show?

Journalists may cease to appear on state-owned Ghana Television’s (GTV) newspaper review segment of the Breakfast Show, effective March this year. Already presenters and anchormen have been told to provide names of non-journalists who will replace journalists who appear on the programme.

According to The Independent, the directive has sparked some protests amongst the Breakfast Show crew and other staff of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.

The directive was given by the Director of Television, Kofi Bucknor who took over in November last year. He is said to be considering bringing academics, market women and other persons unrelated to journalism to do the newspaper review.

''Though the directive has not been explicit to the fact that journalists will not be allowed, the motive, according to the signals we picked, is to effectively bar journalists,'' the paper said.

It is however not known whether the directive is as a result of pressure from government.

''However word doing rounds within the corridors of GBC suggest that the directive may be as a result of government’s discomfort with journalists, mostly editors and senior journalists who appear on the Breakfast Show to help review stories'', the paper added.