Media Foundation condemns attack on Danish journalists in Ghana

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has condemned attacks on three Danish journalists who were carrying out a report on mining in Ghana.

According to MFWA, the journalists from Impact TV, a Denmark-based television station were harassed by security operatives who forcefully seized their filming equipment after they had taken footages at Saaman, a mining community in the Eastern region.

“The three journalists, Jorgen Ebbe Christensen, Troels Kingo, and Sandra Haugaard were in the country to record a documentary on mining and environment in Ghana. The team had complied with a recently introduced obnoxious media censoring directive by the Information Services Department (ISD) that require journalists working for foreign media to seek authorisation before conducting any filming activity in the country,” a statement from the MWFA said.

The foundation said the ISD's authorisation to the Danish journalists had listed the filming of Saaman as part of what has been approved for their coverage.

“According to MFWA's sources, after the team finished filming and were returning, they were accosted by military personnel who had been stationed to offer security at Kibi Goldfields Limited, a local mining firm in Saaman in the Eastern region of Ghana. The security forces together with officials of the mining firm forcefully seized the equipment, questioning why they had conducted filming within their mining concession,” the statement added.

The statement said the incident was subsequently reported to the Police in Koforidua, the Regional capital.

According to sources, the mining company is insisting on accessing the content of the video recording equipment before deciding whether to release it or not.

Infringement on rights of journalists

The MFWA says “it finds this development extremely worrying as it infringes on the rights of the journalists and limits the boundaries of media freedom in the country. The MFWA is equally worried about the implementation of the absurd policy by the ISD which seeks to impose direct censorship on journalists working for foreign media.”

MFWA said a recent authorization issued to foreign journalists by the ISD in line with the policy, lists specific areas and fields that the journalists are allowed to cover and directs the crew to operate “strictly within the mandate given them.”

The said authorization also required that after the filming, the journalists should “ensure that copies of the video clips are made available to the Information Services Department for Conformity Reality Check before the videos are aired publicly.”

This, the ISD said, was a directive by the National Security Council Secretariat.

Directive imposes censorship

MFWA argues that the directive clearly imposes direct censorship on the media and clearly contravenes provisions in Article 162(2) of Ghana's 1992 constitution, which states that: “Subject to this constitution and any other law not inconsistent with this constitution, there shall be no censorship in Ghana.”

The ISD's policy, the MFWA statement claims, is also at variance with Clause 4 of the same Article of the Constitution, which provides that: “Editors and publishers of newspapers and other institutions of the mass media shall not be subject to control or interference by Government, nor shall they be penalized or harassed for their editorial opinions and views, or the content of their publications.”

The MFWA, while condemning the attack on the Danish journalists, also calls on the ISD to withdraw the censorship policy.”