As Ghana marks World Press Freedom Day, a new Afrobarometer report reveals strong public backing for the media’s watchdog role, even as trust in the media and perceptions of press freedom show signs of weakening.
The nationally representative survey, conducted in August 2024 by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), shows that 82% of Ghanaians support the media’s role in investigating and exposing government mistakes and corruption. However, public trust in both state-owned and private media has dipped, and concerns about media freedom are on the rise.
According to the findings, 67% of citizens believe Ghanaian media is “somewhat” or “completely” free, but this represents a decline in confidence, with 32% now saying the media is “not very” or “not at all” free – a significant increase from 19% in 2019.
Trust in media outlets has also dropped. Only 41% of respondents express trust in both private and state-owned media, reflecting declines of 7 and 3 percentage points respectively compared to 2022. Trust in social media as a news source saw the sharpest fall, dropping by 12 percentage points to 26%.
Despite recent reports of harassment, only a minority of Ghanaians perceive an uptick in threats or physical attacks on journalists. About one-third of citizens report increased attacks from political party supporters (32%), ordinary citizens (28%), and security agencies (26%).
Afrobarometer, a pan-African, non-partisan survey network, has been tracking public opinion across Africa since 1999. The Ghana survey involved face-to-face interviews with 2,400 adults, yielding results with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.
The findings come amid growing debate about the safety and independence of journalists in Ghana. While the public clearly values a free and probing press, the data points to a troubling erosion of confidence that could have implications for democratic accountability.
