Mass media in Ghana
[1] The paper had several functions: to provide information for civil servants and European merchants, and to help promote literacy rates and rural development among the local population - while encouraging unity with the Gold Coast government.
Its main use was to spread propaganda to gain the support of the colonies[2] Following the 6 March 1957 declaration of independence by Ghana from the United Kingdom, there were only around four newspapers.
The National Liberation Council (NLC) imposed stricter controls on domestic private outlets; for example, the Rumours Decree in 1966 prevented anyone from suing government-owned newspapers.
[3] In 1969, the democratically elected civilian government of Kofi Busia that followed the NLC were left with a large number of media outlets under state control.
[3] However, when Ignatius Kutu Acheampong overthrew the Busia government, he reinstated strict media control and clamped down on opposition outlets by cutting off foreign exchange.
[3] However, a number of opposition media remained unimpeded during the Acheampong regime, and by 1978 had grown in their calls for a multi-party democracy in Ghana.
[3] The regime of Acheampong was overthrown in May 1978 by General Akuffo, who reversed some of his predecessors media policies and released jailed journalists and opposition members.
The Akuffo regime was short lived, ending in another coup d'état by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) headed by Jerry Rawlings, who repealed the press laws that were passed by Acheampong.
[4] After eight months of the AFRC regime, which had promised media reform but in the end did not materialise, power was returned to the democratically elected PNP with Hilla Limann on 24 September 1979.
Bluff, snobbery and arrogance on all sides must now cease, so that the Press Commission can function in a way that it has been envisaged by those who have never had any personal axe to grind.
This did not last long however, as John Rawlings, citing "corruption and maladministration", once again seized power under the Provisional National Defence Council on 31 December 1981, and repealed the liberal media reforms instigated by Limann.
[3] The PNDC Secretary of Information Joyce Aryee in 1983 defended direct government control: I don't see the press as lying outside the political institutions that we already have.
Rawlings as part of the National Democratic Congress (he retired a Flight Lieutenant of the Ghana Armed Forces) liberalised the media by repealing previous laws the PNDC signed in.
Rawlings acknowledged the years of media repression, though he defended the military coup: All that has happened during the last decade cannot be divorced from today's constitutional order.
No one can fail to appreciate the significance of the 31st December Revolution in bringing Ghanaians to the threshold of the Fourth Republic, and in establishing firm principles of social justice which will make the constitution a living reality - to do so would mean distorting Ghana's history and putting aside those vital lessons which would indeed enrich this phase of Ghanaian experience.
Despite these new reforms, President Rawlings and the NDC government remained critical of the private press, calling it "politically irresponsible" and motivated by profit.
Kufuor was a supporter of press freedom and repealed the criminal libel law, though maintained that the media had to act responsibly.
[1][20] The contribution of a large number of state and private newspapers create a diverse media environment in Ghana.
[22] The commission had received 50 complaints in 2002, and in May 2001, forced the Ghanaian Chronicle to apologise for publishing "false stories" on individuals without substantial evidence.
