The Multimedia Group journalist, Erastus Asare Donkor has opened up on some dangers he encountered in discharging his duties.
He recounted Police brutality in 2012 while reporting on a protest in Dagomba Line following the fatal shooting of a young man.
“I was taking footage of a Police station with an iPad when suddenly I heard someone ask why I was doing that. Without provocation, I was manhandled and my clothes torn but for the intervention of the station master who recognised me, I don’t know what would have become of me,” he narrated.
As if that was not enough, Mr Donkor said he encountered another nightmare in 2021 when he was detained together with a driver and cameraman by soldiers while covering a ‘galamsey’ activity in the Apamprama Forest Reserve.
He said they were detained for five hours without food with their phones and other devices seized.
“The soldiers destroyed our cameras and phones as well as the windscreen of our vehicle. They even wanted to strip us naked but I resisted,” he stated.
The P.A.V Ansah 2022 Journalist of the Year was speaking at Adom Brands’ national dialogue on ‘Defending Media Freedom‘ in Kumasi on Friday.
He expressed worry over the lack of action against people who abuse and attack media practitioners.
According to him, it was about time journalists take the bull by the horn and sue such perpetrators to court.
“The role of the media in our democracy cannot be underrated and so we must be allowed to do our work without fear or intimidation,” he noted.
Listen to Mr Donkor’s full story in the audio above:
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