Media advised to be mindful in post Criminal-Libel Law era

Accra, April 26, GNA -A senior Lecturer at the Ghana School of Law, Mr Ace Anan Ankomah on Thursday said with the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law, the media should not ignore some journalistic pitfalls and minefields in the post Libel Law era.

He said journalists should not be over excited with the repeal of the Law, but should be conscious that freedom went with responsibility and their constitutional protection was with a price.

Mr Ankomah raised these concerns at the Sam Arthur Memorial Lectures organized by the Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra on the theme: Promoting Responsibility and Professionalism: The Law Court and Media Freedom.

He said the media, tasked with the responsibility of agenda setting for the nation must be mindful of what they published or debated in order to ensure that they operated within the confines of the law. Mr Ankomah said most journalists were ignorant of the law and often infringed on it due to lack of training in legal issues, and mentioned the misuse of legal terms in media reportage such as 'fine' for 'damages' and 'adduction' for 'kidnapping and killing'.

He said the media should not act in ignorance of the law as they were regarded as the fourth state of the realm charged with the responsibility of educating and bringing development to the doorstep of the people, and were responsible for setting the national agenda. He said it was unfortunate that some practitioners could boast of being sued several times for wrongful publication, saying, 'This should rather be seen as was a mark of unprofessionalism and a bunch of dishonours".

He cautioned newsmen that acts such as non-registration of newspapers, failure to publish a rejoinder, threats of libel, extorting property from a person by means of threat, and failing to comply with broadcasting standards all remained statutory offence and should be guarded against.

According to Mr Ankomah, huge damages awarded to defamed persons were justifiable, since dented reputation of any person was hard to restore.

He said with technological advancement, a defamed reportage in a local newspaper could have wider publication through the Internet and other media programmes such as the newspaper review and therefore such huge damage was justifiable.

Product advertising, he said, was another area where there were several infringements and mentioned, advertisement of products with false claims, aphrodisiac drugs, alcoholism consumption as some examples.

He urged journalists to join the Ghana Journalist Association and submit to the powers of the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee and the National Media Commission to ensure that they performed to standard. Mr Ankomah reminded journalists that, insults to court, interference in court proceedings, recording or photographing without permission, and prejudged issues pending trial could attract contempt of court. Mr Kofi Amponsah Bediako, Government Spokesperson for Social Issues, who chaired the function, said such regular programmes were needed to stimulate the media on issues they had left hanging. He said the media remained an important tool for development and should be given the needed freedom to operate , whiles they were being guided to be responsible.