Thanks to the 1992 Constitution authorising new media outlets to be created without a licence, Ghana has at least 100 media outlets, including radio stations, TV channels and news sites. Many privately owned media, such as the Joy News channel, the Myjoyonline website and radio Peace FM, are very popular and reflect a high degree of pluralism and diversity. They have the independence necessary to operate without political restrictions. The state-owned Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, and its TV and radio stations, GBC TV and GBC Radio, have nationwide coverage. There are also numerous community radio stations throughout the country. However, measures taken by the authorities to promote media pluralism have favored, in recent years, the emergence of partisan media outlets launched by politicians.

Although Ghana is considered a regional model of democratic stability, journalists have experienced growing pressures in recent years. To protect their jobs and their security, they have increasingly resorted to self-censorship as the government has shown itself to be intolerant of criticism. In addition, a third of the country’s media outlets are owned by politicians or by people with ties to the leading political parties, and the content they produce is largely partisan. Furthermore, the government chooses the National Media Commission’s members although it has no influence over the appointment of those in charge of privately owned media outlets. Nonetheless, the ruling party wrote to the Despite Media Group, which runs the privately owned United TV channel, in October 2023 requesting the inclusion of one of its members in the TV channel’s broadcasts in order, it said, to ensure balance. 

Freedom of the press is guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution. Media outlets are free to operate as they like, subject to the National Media Commission’s regulations. The Right to Information Act, passed in 2019, authorises journalists to demand information of national interest. However, a clause in the law allows a fee to be charged if the information is requested in a language other than English – a provision used to prevent journalists from accessing the information they seek. 

In Ghana, most media outlets face financial difficulties, resulting in low salaries and poor working conditions for journalists. New newspapers are often launched only to fold within months because they were unable to cover their production costs. State-owned media, on the other hand, are awarded government advertising contracts and are paid in exchange for publishing information. Non-transparent and unfair procedures are used to allocate state advertising.

Cultural and religious issues have never been an obstacle to practicing journalism in Ghana. There’s an overall tolerance in the country that allows journalists to cover all social issues without any particular difficulty and without the fear of reprisals. 

Journalists’ safety has seriously deteriorated in recent years. Several attacks on press freedom have been registered, including the intrusion of ruling party supporters into a TV studio and an attack on a journalist during a live report in October 2023. Politicians have also made death threats against investigative journalists. Most cases of police violence against journalists are not pursued. The same goes for murders of journalists: five years after the brutal death of investigative reporter Ahmed Hussein-Suale, the investigation has ground to a halt. Worse still, the attorney general and justice minister told Parliament in early 2024 that criminal prosecutions had not been initiated due to lack of evidence.