Gifty Afenyi-Dadzie, Esq, former President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has called for stronger accountability mechanisms and proactive measures to protect journalists against threats, attacks and intimidation in the discharge of their professional duties.
She said attacks against journalists were not merely violations of individual rights but also attacks on the public’s right to information, press freedom and meaningful participation in democracy.
Speaking on the subject, ‘Ending Impunity for Crimes against Journalists in Ghana: Strengthening Safety, Accountability and Press Freedom’, in Accra, she emphasised that no journalist should have to lose their life before threats against them were taken seriously.
She said journalists played a critical role in promoting accountability by investigating suspected corruption, exposing illegal mining and environmental destruction, and questioning people in positions of authority.
According to her, silencing journalists through violence and intimidation deprived communities of important voices and weakened the ability of citizens to demand accountability from public officials.
Ms Afenyi-Dadzie warned that allowing attacks against journalists to go unpunished could encourage further violence and send a dangerous message that those responsible for such crimes were beyond accountability.
She called for threats and attacks against journalists to be taken seriously, with investigations conducted promptly and impartially, and perpetrators held accountable through due process.
She further emphasised that the protection of journalists must begin before attacks occur rather than relying solely on responses after incidents have taken place.
She said government and law enforcement agencies had a responsibility to ensure that journalists could perform their duties without unlawful interference or violence.
She also urged media organisations to recognise journalists’ safety as an institutional responsibility rather than leaving individual reporters to manage the risks associated with their assignments.
Newsrooms, she said, needed clear procedures for assessing risks, maintaining contact with journalists in the field, responding to threats and providing legal support where necessary.
Ms Afenyi-Dadzie also highlighted the need for media organisations to pay attention to journalists’ digital security and psychosocial well-being.
She maintained that journalists covering sensitive and potentially dangerous assignments should not be expected to navigate the associated risks without institutional support.
She commended the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) for convening the forum and its continued efforts to promote press freedom, strengthen accountability and improve the safety of journalists in Ghana.
She said protecting journalists required collective responsibility and sustained commitment to ensuring that attacks against media practitioners did not go unpunished.
