Private legal practitioner and broadcast journalist, Samson Lardy Anyenini, says the GH¢544,000 Legal Support Fund established by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) will help strengthen independent and fearless journalism by reducing the financial burden associated with litigation.
He said the fund would provide an important safety net for journalists and media organizations that face legal action arising from their legitimate professional work, particularly at a time when lawsuits against the media are increasingly common.
Mr. Anyenini was speaking at a training organized by the MFWA in Kumasi on the legal framework governing media practice and legal risk management.
He said while individuals and organizations had the right to seek redress when they disagreed with media reports, the financial cost of defending lawsuits could make it difficult for some media houses to continue pursuing issues of public interest.
He said the legal support initiative was therefore timely, particularly in cases where litigation could be used to discourage the media from continuing to report on a particular subject.
According to him, some of such cases could constitute Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), where legal action is allegedly used to intimidate or silence journalists or media organizations.
“The most important part of it is that you will not be shut down because you are scared that there will not be money to fight a legal suit that will come. And this is why this is very important,” he said.
Mr. Anyenini encouraged journalists to continue doing their work boldly while acknowledging and correcting errors when they occur.
“So to have a fund that is available to assist, I think, is going to be very useful. You do your work and do it boldly. Those that you need to call their bluff, you call their bluff, but where humbly you need to submit and admit that you also made an error or you erred, you will do so. But the most important part of it is that you will not be shut down because you are scared that there will not be money to fight a legal suit that will come. And this is why this is very important,” he stated
He said the availability of legal support should not be interpreted as a license for journalists to disregard professional standards, stressing the importance of responsible journalism in reducing unnecessary legal exposure.
He identified painstaking verification, seeking responses, obtaining documentation and using the Right to Information (RTI) process where necessary as essential practices for journalists.
He further urged journalists to distinguish between allegations, opinions and established facts and to preserve the evidence and documentation used in their publications in case their reports were subsequently challenged in court.
“The job a journalist does requires painstaking, patient verification, where you need to get responses, you get the responses, where you have documentation, or you do not have documentation. You procure the documentation, even including by RTI requests,” he said.
Mr. Anyenini said the 1992 Constitution provides protections for media freedom while also placing responsibilities on the media to promote accountability and serve the interests of the Ghanaian people.
He urged journalists to see their profession not merely as a privilege, but as a responsibility to uphold constitutional principles and hold public officials accountable.
He said journalists should not abandon their watchdog role because of challenges associated with reporting on corruption, abuse of power, and other matters of public interest.
“You must exercise your profession until we have seen that corruption, as a constitution mandates the state to ensure that it is eradicated and that the abuse of power is also eradicated, we will continue to do the work,” he said.
Mr. Anyenini said the media would continue to have a critical role in holding government officials and other office holders accountable for as long as they exercise public power.
The Legal Support Fund forms part of the MFWA’s African Media Integrity and Resilience Programme (AMIRP), implemented in Ghana in collaboration with DW Akademie, with funding from the European Union through International Media Support (IMS).
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