Safety of journalists should not be viewed only as a political issue – Deputy Minister

Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, has asked Ghanaians to quit abusing journalists and instead focus on utilising legal channels to address issues about their work.

She made the statements while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a roundtable commemorating the first anniversary of the current Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) administration.

She believes that the safety of journalists is a societal duty that should not be viewed solely as a political issue.

She also emphasised the importance of public education in educating Ghanaians about the importance of ensuring the safety of journalists.

“I look at the safety of journalists as the collective responsibility that all members of the Ghanaian society must be educated on. The issue is that when you look at the data of infringement that maybe the Media Foundation for West Africa and other stakeholders came out with, you can see that they vary from traditional communities to churches towards the football field and others and even security agencies.”

“So, if we don’t sensitise the general public and look at the safety of journalists as more or less as a political problem, we will not get anywhere close to solving the problem we may not get anywhere close to resolving the problem. The most important thing has to do with education and letting the Ghanaian people know that if you don’t agree with somebody’s report it doesn’t mean you should threaten or go and harm the person. There are other avenues you can resort to in terms of seeking redress like reporting to the NMC or using other legitimate and legal processes to get have those issues resolved,” she stated.

On his part, the GJA President, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour speaking on the theme “current threads in Ghana’s media landscape” said the association was collaborating with various stakeholders to combat attacks on press freedom.