Ingredient For Enhanced Democracy

The only improvement on the press terrain since the last celebration of World Press Freedom Day has been arguably our proximity to the passage of the Right To Information bill.

This time we have been assured adequately that the promise is real – the assurance emanating from a new set of politicians anyway.

During previous celebrations, the highlights of speeches by politicians at the helm have been centred on promises about the bill on the verge of being passed – something we took with a pinch of salt.

All other things remain constant although we pray that with a change in the political direction of the country many things would alter for the good of media practice in a congenial atmosphere in which there is no looking over the shoulder for the overwhelming image of a state secret police.

We have long departed from this system of media practice not however the apprehension of being dragged to the law courts where the journalist stands the risk of being slapped with an impossible amount of money to pay or alternatively thrown to jail with nobody coming to his rescue, not even public opinion.

Although the National Media Commission (NMC) is empowered to arbitrate in matters bordering on disagreement between the media and individuals or corporate institutions, many aggrieved persons have preferred going to court to seek their pound of flesh.

Some of the fines are so outrageous that they can lead to annihilation of the media establishment concerned should pressure be exacted for their settlement.

We cannot feign ignorance of the overzealousness of some media houses as they constitute themselves into media bullies.

They unleash so much pressure on the political terrain and even individuals that they can spell the end of the careers of individuals who dare them.

Let those who are aggrieved over reports filed in the media go to the NMC for mediation. Seeking to be too hard in the face of disagreements would be taking a path that does not inure to the enhancement of the press freedom and by extension, democracy.

Since January 7 when President Akufo-Addo assumed the political leadership of the country, we have not noticed a physical assault of a journalist by a state security operative or the destruction of their tools by an overzealous government appointee.

We doubt whether we would record yet again such a nasty development, given the nature of the new leadership and its appreciation of the role of the media in national development.

We now have a President who did a yeoman's job in nullifying the Criminal Libel Law and therefore we can look forward to brighter days for media practice; the icing on the cake being the eventual passage of the RTI by the end of the year.

Yesterday the world marked World Press Freedom Day – a day on which we take stock of how free the media has been allowed to operate. The freedom at the disposal of the media to operate or serve the people and the cause of democracy is an apt gauge of the level of political civilization of a country.

The absence of the Criminal Libel Law has gone a long way in shaping the practice of democracy in the country: for which the credit goes to President Akufo-Addo, whose appreciation of the freedom of the press dates back to several years.

A free press is a critical adjunct of an enhanced democracy and so any impediment to its existence must be fought by everything at the disposal of its cherishers.