Court to rule on press reports of legal proceedings

An Accra circuit court trying two journalists, Eben Quarcoo and Kofi Coomson, together with Tommy Thompson, publisher of the "Free Press", is to rule on whether or not to allow verbatim reports by journalists of legal proceedings against the trio.

No dates have been fixed for the hearing, but Judge Victor Ofoe adjourned proceedings to 17 August 1998 after hearing submissions from parties to the case.

This follows a submission made by Deputy Attorney General Martin Amidu, who urged the court to restrain journalists from giving verbatim reports with the explanation that such reports give an impression of becoming the official record of the court. He made reference to "The Ghanaian Chronicle" and said its 'question and answer' mode of reporting court proceedings was bound to give the public an impression that these reports constituted the official record of the court. He argued further that, in a situation where the reports differ from the official record of the court, they were liable to be misinterpreted and thus prejudice the case.

Akoto Ampaw, counsel for the "Free Press", reacted by saying journalists had a duty to report all issues as much as they could and a verbatim report ensured that they avoided falling in contempt of court. By reporting verbatim, he said, journalists were not infringing any known condition of the Constitution, the Courts Act or the basic fundamental principles of common law under which the court could bar journalists from covering its sessions.

In exceptional situations where the court could bar journalists, these conditions must be based on public order, safety or morality, concluded Ampaw, while counsel for the "The Ghanaian Chronicle", Emmanuel Ohene said that, if the position of the Attorney General were to be considered, then journalists would have to wait for the court's official record of proceedings before publishing any stories.

BACKGROUND: Coomson, editor-in-chief of "The Ghanaian Chronicle", and Quarcoo, former editor of the "Free Press", were charged in 1996 under obsolete colonial criminal libel laws for carrying articles in their respective publications which accused the Ghana government of drug- trafficking. Last July, the courts order the arrest and remand of Coomson and Quarcoo, claiming the two were likely to jump bail in connection with the criminal proceedings pending against them. Later that month, the two journalists had their bail conditions rescinded and their passports deposited with the courts for fear that they would jump bail before their case was heard (see IFEX alerts).

13 August 1998. SOURCE: Free Expression Ghana, Accra.