What constitutes a public space in Ghana?

I’m fatigued by the continuous harassment anytime I stand to film at places considered a public space in Ghana.

The harassment often comes from persons who should know better. The worst we encounter are personnel from security agencies. Theirs can be debated, but a civil servant who stands in your way to prevent a journalist from filming in a public space always beats my imagination.

I’ve had enough of the restrictions. Maybe I’m not getting it right. I’m seeking answers to guide my work going forward.

Which areas are considered public spaces where a journalist or any ordinary citizen can film?

I was at the Achimota Senior High School and Accra Academy to file a report.

The security at the first school asked us to park while he sought clearance from the authorities.

After ‘wasting his airtime’ to call for confirmation, we were allowed in. I engaged the assistant head in charge of domestic issues. She supervises what the students eat and ensures it meets standards. (She’s the right person to talk to for my report).

My mission was simply to confirm, or otherwise, the veracity of food shortages in SHSs. I wasn’t expecting to get an interview because it’s not my first time requesting an interview in that regard.

The head of the school directed the domestic affairs madam on phone to direct me to the regional director of education. According to the head, who was engaged on phone to seek clearance on my request, the GES director has been updated on issues, hence they’re not in any position to grant my wish.

They didn’t know that declining to comment was news. Assuming I’d called and had no response, my ethics demand that I state it in my report. I am very much aware it’s not compulsory for them to talk to the media.

After they declined to comment, I respectfully informed the head in charge of domestic affairs of my intention to do a ‘piece to camera’ PTC. (To stand outside and summarise your salient points and mention your name, i.e. Fred Duhoe reporting for Citi News).

The assistant head says NO; I can’t do that on their compound.

Do you mean I can’t stand in this public space (school compound) to do a PTC? I’m not here to film your secret office documents, nor the food that’s alleged to have reduced in quantity and quality.

Hell no! I will proceed for you to do your worst. I did it in front of her and I left.

At the Accra Academy School, the security person denied me entry. He placed a call and the administrator asked to speak to me.

He mentioned that the headmaster is not available for interviews and in his absence; the media has no business in the school. He wished me well on the phone and commanded the security to lock us out.
We obliged. While I stood at the entrance of the locked gate doing a PTC, the security man yelled and commanded me to stop filming.

I asked him if he knew this was a public space. He insisted that “filming is not allowed at the entrance”.

He won’t listen to my attempts to explain/educate him on what a public space is. I defied his orders and did my work and left.

Even at the Supreme Court of Ghana, we (media) are allowed to stand and film from outside and even interview lawyers except in the courtrooms. Even that, the CJ allows issues considered to be in the larger interest of the public to be on live television.

I’ve been to the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority at Tema to follow up on a story. As courtesy demands of my job, I called the communications director to inform her. She had earlier denied me an interview on the story I drove all the way to Tema from Accra with its associated risk to do.

According to her, the story I was chasing had already been resolved, and she was preparing to issue a press release.

Even though she was willing to speak to me, she doesn’t know when she will finish drafting a “one-page” press release.

After all, the press release was intended for the press, so I opted to wait for her to finish, so I could engage her because I was there with a camera to file a TV report. She came up with another excuse, that, she will go for a meeting at 4pm after the press release, which she was preparing at about 11:40am.

Four hours for a press release? Only in Ghana.

She asked that I come back to Tema the following day for the 5-minute interview. I told her on the phone in plain words that “she’s only saying NO to the interview. She vehemently argued that my conclusion was not right.

My second call to her was to inform her about my decision to do a PTC on the street of GPHA since I’ve got the videos to tell the story. That took about fifteen good minutes to agree.

Why must people assume that no one has the right to film at the premises of state institutions/organisations for Christ’s sake? What do they lose when a news reporter films at a location which has “no photography allowed signs”?

What should a journalist do in circumstances like this? I will be reading your comments and contributions. I believe it will guide many journalists in this country.

If the journalists’ code of ethics had made provision for this, I won’t bother seeking answers.

The closest I chanced on in the revised version of our ethics is; a journalist must “Ensure that photographs and multimedia contents adequately reflect an event and do not highlight an incident out of context”.

If I’m to go by this, I would’ve to film almost everything and anything.