Committee to Protect Journalists - Ghana

In Ghana, journalists attacked after presidential elections

2013-01-07T19:48:50Z

Several journalists reported being attacked in the aftermath of Ghana's contested presidential elections on December 7, 2012, according to CPJ interviews, news reports, and local press freedom organizations.

In Ghana, police assault journalist, seize his equipment

2012-06-15T19:49:33Z

Abuja, June 15, 2012--Authorities in Ghana must investigate the assault on a journalist by police while covering a police raid in Ho, the capital of Ghana's Volta region, and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Victor Kwawukume, who reports for the state-owned Daily Graphic and is the regional chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association, was attacked by four unidentified police officers on June 10 as he covered a raid in Ho in which police arrested suspected criminals and drug peddlers, according to news reports. Kwawukume said he verbally identified himself as a journalist, but the officers attacked him, violently hitting him on the head and seizing his camera, the reports said.

Obama should raise press freedom in Africa food talks

2012-05-16T18:24:51Z

New York, May 16, 2012--President Obama should acknowledge the role that independent news reporting plays in assessing agricultural challenges and facilitating the response to famine, the Committee to Protect Journalists stated in a letter to the White House. Ethiopia in particular downplays the extent of food crises and undermines the ability of donor nations and aid groups to help by denying journalists access to sensitive areas and censoring independent coverage.

Ghana must probe state agents' attack on photographer

2012-01-13T19:03:51Z

New York, January 13, 2012---Authorities in Ghana should launch a thorough and transparent investigation into reports that state security agents on Thursday brutalized a photojournalist covering the high-profile court case of a senior police official, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Ghana police criminally prosecute journalist over sources

2010-07-23T21:55:00Z

New York, July 23, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ghana’s attorney general to drop prosecution of prominent journalist Ato Kwamena Dadzie under the 1960 criminal code in an attempt to get him to reveal his sources.

Attacks on the Press in 2008: Africa Developments

2009-02-10T05:53:00Z

Attacks on the Press 2007: Africa Analysis

2008-02-05T17:10:00Z

When Press Freedom and Democracy Are Out of Step

By Tom Rhodes

Ballots may have replaced bullets in much of Africa since the dawn of this new century, but one of the great political ironies for at least part of the continent has been a loss of press freedom following the voting. Leaders in a large swath of sub-Saharan Africa have drawn approving nods from Western politicians for holding sometimes unprecedented elections. Three such countries are the Gambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Ethiopia. All have democratically elected presidents and Western support. Yet between them they hold the unenviable record of placing at or near the top of CPJ's 2007 list of the world's worst backsliders on press freedom.

Attacks on the Press 2007: Africa Snapshots

2008-02-05T16:59:20Z

Attacks & developments throughout the region

Attacks on the Press 2006: Countries That Have Jailed Journalists

2007-02-05T16:57:00Z

ALGERIA: 2

Djamel Eddine Fahassi, Alger Chaîne III
IMPRISONED: May 6, 1995

Fahassi, a reporter for the state-run radio station Alger Chaîne III and a contributor to several Algerian newspapers, including the now-banned weekly of the Islamic Salvation Front, Al-Forqane, was abducted near his home in the al-Harrache suburb of the capital, Algiers, by four well-dressed men carrying walkie-talkies. According to eyewitnesses who later spoke with his wife, the men called out Fahassi's name and then pushed him into a waiting car. He has not been seen since, and Algerian authorities have denied any knowledge of his arrest.

Attacks on the Press 2006: Countries That Have Jailed Journalists

2007-02-05T15:56:40Z

GHANA

2005-04-12T04:00:00Z

JULY 4, 2005
Posted: July 22, 2005

Frank Boahene, Free Press
IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION
Claude Decker, Free Press
Thomas Kpakpo Thompson, Free Press
LEGAL ACTION

An Accra high court sentenced Boahene, editor of the private weekly, and directors Decker and Thompson to 15 days in prison for contempt of court, according to local sources. Boahene was arrested and jailed the same day, while Decker and Thompson went into hiding.

Attacks on the Press 2002: Africa Analysis

2003-03-31T17:10:53Z

Although the Kenya-based East African Standard, one of Africa's oldest continuously published newspapers, marked its 100th anniversary in November, journalism remains a difficult profession on the continent, with adverse government policies and multifaceted economic woes still undermining the full development of African media.

Attacks on the Press 2002: Ghana

2003-03-31T17:06:55Z

One year after President John Agyekum Kufuor's media-friendly government repealed Ghana's criminal defamation law, the state imposed controls on reporting about interclan clashes in March, after a local tribal king and several of his supporters were killed during a feud between rival clans in the northern Dagbon region. Kufuor declared a state of emergency, which was still in effect at year's end, and the information minister announced that unless journalists were writing about official government-produced press releases, they were required to clear stories on the conflict in Dagbon with the ministry.

Attacks on the Press 2002: Ivory Coast

2003-03-31T17:05:40Z

Hopes were high in July that Ivory Coast's political crisis would end after a judge in the capital, Abidjan, confirmed that former prime minister Alassane Dramane Ouattara, the leader of the opposition Rally for Republicans (RDR), is an Ivory Coast citizen.

Ghana: Government censors reporting on ethnic strife

2002-04-02T17:00:00Z

April 2, 2002

His Excellency President John Kufuor
The Castle P.O. Box 1627
Accra, Ghana

Via facsimile: (233) 21 664 089

Your Excellency:

CPJ is alarmed that your government has imposed controls on reporting about recent interclan clashes in the northern Dagbon area of Ghana.