The dialogue, themed ‘Defending Media Freedom,’ will bring together key stakeholders, including government officials, journalists, and regulators, to discuss strategies that would ensure the press in Ghana is genuinely free to carry out its mandate.

According to the annual Press Freedom Index report, Ghana has experienced a sharp decline in media freedom.

About a decade ago, Ghana ranked among the top 30 countries globally for press freedom, scoring above 80%, which earned it an “A” grade and placed it as the third-best in Africa, after Namibia and Cabo Verde.

At that time, Ghana’s press freedom was described as “Satisfactory.”

However, over the past three years, a series of challenges have emerged, worsening press freedom in the country.

These challenges have made the environment for journalism, and for the public’s right to reliable, independent, and diverse news and information, increasingly difficult.

According to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), journalists have faced threats, arrests, detentions, and even torture from state agencies, including the police, military, and political operatives.

Political attacks on press freedom, such as the suppression of independent media outlets and the widespread dissemination of misinformation, have also intensified.

In light of these issues, the Joy Brands of the Multimedia Group believes it is urgent to address the theme and emphasize that media freedom is critical to the nation’s democracy.

A total of 21 panelists have been scheduled to speak at the event, including investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, JoyNews’ Samson Lardy Anyenini, Inspector General of Police Dr. George Dampare, and MFWA’s Sulemana Braimah.

Other speakers include Dr. Serebour Quaicoe of the Electoral Commission, Information Minister Fatimatu Abubakar, Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, and several others.

The dialogue will take place at the GNAT Hall, Thursday, August 29, starting at 4 pm. It will also be broadcast live on JoyNews TV and streamed on its social media platforms.

ALSO READ:

• The Multimedia Group pays courtesy call on IGP ahead of National Media Freedom Dialogue

• All you need to know as Multimedia Group launches ‘Election Headquarters’ [Video]

The frame of a stout man stood behind the door, flanked by two others who opened the door and let Elvis Kwashie in.

Lights, camera, action. 

‘Surprise!!!!!!!!’.

The room burst into life and lights. Editors, producers, reporters, and technical crew hailed the man at a surprise party to recognise the General Manager of the Joy Cluster, a legend in Joy corridors.

Elvis Kwashie, bespectacled, a nose mask, muffled his reaction and he stood as shy as an intern, quite unsure at what the manual on how to celebrate at your party recommends as the standard reaction.

“We want to celebrate you while you are still alive, Chief Human Resource Officer, Nana Mbroh Elegba drummed home the point of the party, the foreboding and ominous import of his words unbeknown to him.

For exactly a year and five days since Joy Cluster decided to throw a surprise party for Elvis Kwashie, fate, in a tragic over-enthusiasm, has decided to throw a joyless, surprise ‘party’ for Elvis Kwashie at age 48.

There is mourning and grief in journalism over the passing of a media practitioner who was hardly seen and rarely heard but was practically responsible for everything seen or heard on JoyNews.

Elvis Kwarshie, 48years, fell ill suddenly and deteriorated shockingly before passing quietly at the University of Ghana Medical Center on Tuesday, December 28, 2021.h

He is credited with the recruitment of an estimated 90% of the current staff strength at the JoyNewsroom and his supply of vetted talent within the journalism space continued to reach several recognised media houses where his former reporters continue to work.

“When Elvis joined MGL as editor, I had finished my national service in the JoyNewsroom. As a man with an eye for talent, Elvis immediately identified me and put me on one of the most important pillars of the newsroom – documentaries,” Fiifi Koomson, JoyNews editor said.

Hotline, the documentary hub of JoyNews has since won 100 awards and on those several special nights of recognition, Elvis Kwashie, a workaholic who felt the stage was for gloryholics.

“One of the reasons why people like me have stayed for this long is because of Elvis,” head of political desk and presenter. Evan Mensah put a brotherly hand on Mr Kwashie’s shoulder at that surprise party.

It was not easy for him. But he had been prepared for this. Elvis began his Multimedia career in a Matilda Asante-led newsroom that often rained fire and brimstone. Typical of a JoyNewsroom it often got heady with strong opinions and wild directions. Scream your point or get out-screamed.

But Elvis had the cool and balanced temperament that marked him out for leadership in a newsroom jungle. JoyNews editor, Araba Koomson who joined MGL at the same time as Elvis knows all about the aggression in the team. “We fought a lot. We disagreed a lot. But we also laughed a lot,” she wrote in a tribute on her Facebook wall.

Elvis Kwashie rose to become Joy FM editor and with steady success, myjoyonline would be thrown in. Elvis’ broad shoulders were metaphoric indicators that he could handle more. And so TV was thrown in.

He was now managing editor with a new task to converge three Joy brands into one ecosystem called JoyNews.

Self-confident enough not to be intimidated by talent, emotionally intelligent enough to get egos to go away, Elvis Kwashie managed people, problems and promises well enough to get the job of journalism done in a way that was fearless and credible. 

One of his favourite phrases was “we will fix it” JoySportspresenter Gary Al-Smith said on the network as colleagues remembered their leader.

“He knew how to bring his team together to deliver. And in the most difficult of times, Elvis Kwashie knew how to plan, organise, direct and control issues,” Fiifi Koomson eulogised. 

Elvis Kwashie rose to become the General Manager of all five Joy brands – JoyFM, JoyNews TV, myjoyonline.com, JoySports, JoyPrime and Hitz FM.

And while little is heard of him on the company’s platforms, it suited Elvis’ personality summed in the words of US President Harry Truman’s 1988 quote ‘It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.’

And he loved to talk about passion and prayer. “You managed to mix faith [and] force,” Araba Koomson continued.

At December 23, 2021, Surprise Party, as the newsroom rebounded from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Elvis told his team that “I told God in 2020, that he should not let anyone die under my watch.”

No one died. But the man who kept the watch in prayer is no more. 

At the University of Ghana Medical Center, inside the Intensive Care Unit, Elvis departed the world to a place where it would be the turn of angels, not journalists, to scream -‘surprise!!!!!!’