A number of media stakeholders including the National Media Commission (NMC), Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Ghana Community Radio Network (GCRN), Editors Forum, Ghana and the Media Foundation to West Africa (MFWA) will on Wednesday July 11, 2018, hold a joint forum with the leadership of the Ghana Police Service to deliberate on ways of improving safety of journalists and relations between the media and police in Ghana.
The forum, which will be held at the Ghana Police Headquarters in Accra, will be opened by the Inspector General of Police, Mr David Asante-Apeatu.
The forum will be used as a platform to deliberate on past incidents of attacks on journalists. It will also serve as a platform to seek updates from the police on the status of investigations into incidents of attacks on journalists in the country that have been reported to them.
Together, the media stakeholders and the police will adopt a joint framework on promoting safety of journalists in Ghana as well as ways in which media and police relations, generally, can be strengthened.
In the last 18 months alone, more than 20 journalists have been victims of attacks. Perpetrators of these attacks have included security personnel, organised groups and individuals. It is in the light of the increasing incidents of attacks and the role that the police can play in helping to improve the safety of journalists’ situation in the country, that the forum is being convened.
In addition, there are currently on-going processes at the international level that are focusing on strengthening preventive mechanisms for the safety of journalists. The outcomes of the forum are, therefore, also intended to help strengthen preventive mechanisms on safety of journalists in Ghana.