To many in the ink fraternity, 21st August 2010, would go into the history books as one memorable night, especially for the 30 institution and individual Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) award winners. It was a night of music and dancing that lured the Vice President John Dramani Mahama, the Special Guest of Honour, and other dignitaries, from the comfort of their seats to the dance floor to boogie to the sweet melody of the prolific High-life singer Abrantie Amakye Dede.[more]

Alarm bells that vividly race back to mind was that, come the midnight hour of December of that year, the first minute on the clock would get reduced down to four zeroes. Doomsayers were equally in full swing concocting obituaries for the world coming to an end. Delivering us from this gloom and doom was a scientific response and view that assured all and sundry that the world was far from coming to an end.[more]

"...Without freedom a press will never be anything but bad." "We often deal with things that are so complex as to be beyond the limits or our intuitive comprehension. As such, we construct models, simplifications of the real thing, which allow us to study that which we seek to understand. Whether a model is right or wrong is simply a value judgment, whether it is correct or incorrect is something that will be evident in time. The most important question to ask should relate to the extent to which the models we develop promote the intentioned development of our understanding. The extent to which a model aids in the development of our understanding is the basis for deciding how good the model is. A model is a simplification of reality, and as such, certain details are excluded from it." (Gene Bellinger-The way of Systems)[more]

In the third part of the epistle, Catholic bishops say the army and the police should be non-partisan in next year's election. The bishops say media freedom is vital for participatory democracy. Election supervision and monitoring is the process of supervising the entire electoral process to ensure that the electoral Law that governs the elections is observed: ensuring regular, impartial, objective elections, guaranteeing voters and candidates the free exercise of their rights.[more]

A magistrate court in Dakar on August 26, 2010 convicted Express News, a pro-government newspaper of defaming Pape Samba Mboup, the Chief Director in the office of President Abdoulaye Wade.[more]

WHAT goes around comes around. Time has now come for the South African media to learn it the hard way. Many people might wonder why the recent furore over the proposed media tribunal in South Africa is not a surprise to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa).[more]

Despite facing a powerful enemy such as the ANC-led government, which some observers have likened to Goliath because of its intimidating moves, South Africa's independent media, David, refuses to back down, vowing not to give up but fight until the bloody end. This act of bravery by the media epitomises the intensity of the conflict over media freedom that has the potential to drag on for many years - typical of an African struggle against white rule.[more]

The noose is tightening around South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) as pressure mounts from all corners - locally and internationally - on President Jacob Zuma and his party to scrap the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill - two repressive projects critics believe will institutionalise corruption and abuse of power, and set the country on the path of other African failed states.[more]

Johannesburg — AN INDEPENDENT media tribunal and media self-regulation should be seen as complementary, the South African Communist Party (SACP) said yesterday. It called for a "calm and considered discussion around how sensitive information should be handled within our democracy". SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said the media's deliberate conflation of the media tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill had undermined the possibility of this discussion.[more]

Official complaints by ANC and government officials against newspaper stories have quadrupled over the past three years. However, despite allegations of widespread newspaper falsehoods and "an astonishing degree of dishonesty", the total number of complaints to the ombudsman by these institutions was still only 24 in the past year, out of tens of thousands of stories published. [more]