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Other articles in the RAP 21 Newsletter n° 91/2002:
The Business of Newspapers
Springboard readers into text
NEWS FROM THE MEDIA SCENE
Finding the balance between media freedom and journalistic ethics
Questionnaire on the social responsibility of journalists
PRESS FREEDOM
Regional news from around the continent
Development reporting course
AWARDS OPPORTUNITIES
Peter Jenkins Journalism Awards for environmental journalism
Global Health Council’s Excellence in Media Award
What role for media and culture in the realisation of the African Union?
Newsletter n° 91


In Ghana, government plans to gag the media

Less than two years after the repeal of the Criminal Libel law, a new legislative instrument is being introduced by the government for passage into a bill that will regulate the press, both print and electronic, in Ghana.

News of the existence of the draft bill came as a shock to journalists, many of who laid their neutrality aside and became politicians and devoted copious space to then candidate J.A Kufuor’s campaign because he promised to repeal the criminal libel law if the media supported him.

Months after Mr Kuffor took office, the law was repealed. Ghanaians applauded the action.

But the fear of a clampdown remained as actions by government officials, including threats of physical assault against journalists, were reported.

Under the new bill, titled "National Media Commission (Newspaper and Publication Regulation) Instrument 2002" a newspaper or publication that is printed in or imported into Ghana shall be registered with the National Media Commission (NMC), which is empowered to authorise a title to start publication.

Once publishing begins, the publishers must submit two copies of each issue to the NMC, which also requires information on ownership, editorship, circulation figures, and more.

Failure to abide by the new law will attract penalties including jail terms. "Any who fails to register a newspaper or publication in accordance with this instrument commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 250 penalty units or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months or to both," the draft bill says.

Other provisions in the bill include "right of reply" under which a newspaper is required to publish the reply verbatim, even if it contains libelous materials.

For the electronic media, the station shall be held liable for whatever opinion is expressed by a guest or a caller into a live phone-in discussion program.

The hopes that the removal of the criminal libel law would encourage investors to enter the publishing business now appear dashed with the emergence of the new bill.

Journalists have, however, vowed to oppose the new bill, which is currently with the Attorney-General’s Office.

Under the current law, newspapers are registered as any normal business for tax purposes only and there is no provision for registration with the NMC.

The Ghana Journalists Association described the new proposed regulations as a threat to the independence and freedom of the media and the development of democracy generally and therefore called for its immediate withdrawal.
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