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| GJA moves to help sued media houses |
6/23/2005 |
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The Ghana Journalists Associations is seeking legal advice on how best to assist media institutions slapped with huge damages by the courts.
This is because the damages mainly in billions of cedis have the potential of crippling the industry.
The association has been criticized for remaining silent in the face of increasing court cases against media institutions and the award of huge damages by the courts.
GJA President Adwoa Yeboah Afari says suggestions that the GJA has failed to protect the interest of its members facing court action are inaccurate.
Madam Yeboah Afari says the journalists’ umbrella union is concerned about the hefty damages awarded to complainants.
She however explains that the unprofessional manner in which some media houses operate accounts for the increasing cases of libel.
“Since there are damages, it means that there is room for maneuver, it means that the particular media house still has the opportunity to talk with the complainant and try to get a settlement…” she said.
She said while in some cases where complainants want apologies and retraction of stories, journalists insist that they are right even when all facts point that what they are reporting or broadcasting is inaccurate.
Some of the country’s private newspapers including the Ghanaian Chronicle, the Ghanaian Post and the Free Press face several billions of cedis in damages mostly from ministers of state and government functionaries seeking legal redress.
The latest suit is against the Free Newspapers, which could pay up to, 3 billion cedis in damages to the Managing Director of the state reinsurance firm Ghana Reinsurance Sampson Nuamah.
Source: Joy FM (Ghana)
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