Fatimatu Abubakar, the Deputy Information Minister has appealed to financially stable organizations to assist the National Media Commission (NMC)
Fatimatu Abubakar, the Deputy Information Minister has appealed to financially stable organizations to assist the National Media Commission (NMC) effectively safeguard journalists in the country.
She urged stakeholders to contribute financially to the NMC’s efforts to ensure journalists operate freely and responsively in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Forum on Media Professionalism and Journalist Safety organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on Thursday, July 28 at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, the Deputy Minister added that the Ministry considers media freedom a priority.
“We are willing to offer some level of support to the office and keep it running, but I would like to use this opportunity to reach out to stakeholders in the country and outside Ghana who have the capacity to assist the NMC with funding to run the office because perhaps if they had more resources, they would be more inquisitorial in their approach,” she said.
She urged journalists to also use their platforms to fight for their rights.
“For the past year, we have been able to set up an office for the coordinated mechanism on the safety of journalists. As you heard from the National Media Commission, journalists do not even come there to find out processes of what is happening there so that in line of their duty, when there is such violation, they will go there for redress,” she said.
She stressed that government will never shield or tolerate persons who attack journalists in the country regardless of their social or political status.
“The government is not interested in shielding perpetrators of attacks against journalists. We are committed to safeguarding journalists to ensure that our poor performance in the world press freedom ranking changes for the better,” the Minster assured.
She adds “We must continue with sensitisation and encourage people to use the appropriate quarters to seek redress when attacked.”
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