Minister of Communications, Digital Know-how and Innovation, Samuel Narty George (MP), declared that whereas press freedom stays a basic pillar of democratic governance, the nation will draw an uncompromising crimson line towards the weaponization of pretend information.
Talking on behalf of President John Mahama on the second Ghana Journalists Affiliation (GJA) World Press Freedom Day Honors Evening on Saturday, June 6, 2026, the Minister clarified that freedom of the press must not ever be used as a protect to guard people who fabricate deliberate falsehoods to destabilize the nation.
Talking to media executives, diplomats and civil society leaders on the Alisa Resort in Northridge, George emphasised that the federal government is totally at peace with aggressive investigative reporting, however is totally ready to implement authorized order towards organized disinformation.
Preventing digital poison
The Minister straight drew consideration to the rising risk of unverified malicious reporting throughout digital channels within the nation. He argued that disseminating fabricated tales beneath the guise of editorial independence undermines true journalism and straight threatens nationwide safety, public well being, and neighborhood concord.
“To be sincere with ourselves, not every part that’s printed or broadcast in Ghana as we speak is journalism. Some of what’s being circulated on our airwaves and digital platforms are deliberate falsehoods aimed toward upsetting quite than informing…This isn’t journalism, it’s a risk to the general public curiosity. States have the precise and accountability to deal with this,” he stated.
The minister rejected claims that the federal government was attempting to limit free speech and defended state surveillance as a needed measure to guard the general public curiosity, quite than an try to control impartial thought.
“The nation’s regulatory and authorized frameworks will not be devices of censorship; they’re devices of order,” the minister insisted. “Accountable governments should proportionately and transparently implement nationwide pursuits the place they require them.”
good report of political tolerance
To show the federal government’s dedication to defending genuine journalism, the minister pointed to the state’s secure and safe report beneath the present administration. He identified that no media employee has been subjected to state-sponsored executions, compelled exile, or arbitrary closure of media services for exposing corruption or difficult the chief department.
He defined that regardless of being uncovered to harsh and infrequently hostile public opinion, President Mahama treats intense media scrutiny as a basic requirement of political legitimacy.
“As an alternative, he responds with the quiet confidence of a pacesetter who is aware of that criticism is the worth of democratic management. A authorities that fears scrutiny is a authorities that has motive to cover. We’re not that type of authorities,” George stated.
Digital printing presses and financial safety
This open door coverage has introduced nice outcomes internationally.
The Minister highlighted Ghana’s exceptional rise in Reporters With out Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, noting that the nation has jumped to thirty ninth place on the planet and the best rating in Africa. This enchancment from final 12 months’s 52nd place was pushed by the resilience of the native media fraternity and the state’s funding in infrastructure.
The Minister linked this progress to the enlargement of broadband throughout the nation, stressing that conserving digital areas open and safe is essential to fashionable democracies.
“The Web is as we speak’s printing press,” George stated. “Simply as press freedom was arduous received over centuries of sacrifice, digital freedom should be actively protected and purposefully promoted.”
Nevertheless, the Minister warned that true press freedom can’t survive on legal guidelines alone. It requires monetary safety.
He appealed to the GJA management to proactively handle media poverty, noting that poorly paid journalists are extremely weak to monetary and political manipulation. He reaffirmed that the federal government is engaged on structural options to foster a self-reliant media financial system.
