Reduce tax on newspaper production - Editors Forum

By Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, May 5, GNA - Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, the Chairperson of the Editors Forum, Ghana has called for tax reduction on newspaper production inputs, so that newspapers can be affordable again; to boost their circulation and help sustain the papers.

'Here in Ghana, we have achieved media independence and pluralism, but as a print journalist, principally, I can't help but mourn the dwindling numbers of newspaper buyers and readers,' she said during the 2016 World Press Freedom Day celebration in Accra

'It is obvious that at GHȼ 2.50 a copy, for many people buying a newspaper has become a luxury, an unaffordable one. And those who can afford it, tend to rely more and more on other news sources which they claim have more satisfying content,' she said.

The event was on the theme, 'Access to Information and Fundamental Freedoms: This Is Your Right!'

She said: 'So, while we continue to ask questions about the long delay of the Freedom of Information Bill, another aspect of the access issue is that our newspapers are getting more and more expensive'.

'Here we are, a nation encouraging people to form a reading habit, and yet even one newspaper a day is apparently too expensive for the average household,' she said.

She said almost all the news that people get from the electronic media was generated by the print media; declaring that 'So, why shouldn't the public be enabled to get the news in full from the original source?'

Ms Yeboah-Afari said in other parts of the world, when a newspaper folds up because of circulation, it might continue an online presence; stating that 'obviously, the situation is not the same here'.

'Therefore, in our context, I think that access to information should also mean the affordability of newspapers,' she said.

Ms Yeboah-Afari said this year's observance of the World Press Freedom Day also marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration of press freedom principles.

'I'm very proud that I was one of the participants at the historic 'Seminar on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press', held in Windhoek, Namibia, from April 29 to May 3, 1991 that gave birth to the declaration.

She recounted that in Windhoek, participants were concerned about controls threatening, or preventing, the establishment of independent press in Africa.

'The irony is that now in Ghana we have the vibrancy and the numbers - although professionalism is still an issue - but, unfortunately, taxes and the economic situation have put the price of newspapers beyond the reach of many,' she said.

'And, notably, those affected are citizens who need the sustained information and education that newspapers offer, to participate fully in national decision-making. They, too, have that right,' she added.

Mr Affail Monney, the President of the Ghana Journalists Association, said it was the Association's contention that a free flow of credible information was an asset to good governance.

He said mechanisms such as the Right to Information Law, therefore, needed to be implemented, so that the media could carry out their monitoring role both effectively and efficiently, and at the same time, be subjected to public scrutiny that would aide self-regulation and promote media accountability.

Every year, May 3 is a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.

The international day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the 26th Session of UNESCO's General Conference in 1991.

This in turn was a response to a call by African journalists who in 1991 produced the landmark Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and independence.

GNA