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“I am not surprised, to say the least"- Sulemana Braimah reacts to Ghana's poor ranking on World Press Freedom Index

By Justice Kofi Bimpeh
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The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah says there were clear signals that Ghana will rank low on the latest Press Freedom Index.

Sulemana Braimah said: “The signals were clear and some of us had always raised concerns about developments in the country. I have had course to say that this government has had the weakest media in terms of critical journalism and it is experiencing the most repressive tendencies in terms of press freedom.”

“I am not surprised, to say the least. As I said with the developments we were seeing in this country, it is not surprising that other countries have overtaken us. I however did not expect that we drop this low.”

Ghana has dropped from 30th to 60th on the latest Press Freedom Index released by Reporters without Borders (RSF).

RSF in a statement said, "The 2022 edition of the World Press Freedom Index, which assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories, highlights the disastrous effects of news and information chaos – the effects of a globalised and unregulated online information space that encourages fake news and propaganda."

READ ALSO : Ghana dropped from 30th to 60th on Press Freedom Index

"Within democratic societies, divisions are growing as a result of the spread of opinion media following the “Fox News model” and the spread of disinformation circuits that are amplified by the way social media functions."

At the international level, democracies are being weakened by the asymmetry between open societies and despotic regimes that control their media and online platforms while waging propaganda wars against democracies. Polarisation on these two levels is fuelling increased tension."

The latest ranking put Ghana at 60 among the 180 countries listed and the situation of press freedom described as problematic. The key indicators for the score of 67.43 are the economic circumstances and safety of journalists.