A media expert and academic, Professor Kwame Karikari, has expressed concerns over the deteriorating standards of journalism in Africa.
Karikari raised the concerns on Thursday in Accra during an interaction with 20 fellows of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Journalism Fellowship for West African Journalists.
The media expert said though the era of killing and jailing journalists might be over on the continent, politicians and elites were, however, interfering with the work of journalists.
“Today, the problem of press freedom is quite complex. Though governments are not killing journalists or jailing them as it used to be 20 years ago, elites and politicians are interfering.
“The standards of journalism are going down and we must be concerned over the development.
“In many of our countries, there are too much propaganda and investigative journalism is on a retreat.
“Nigeria for instance used to have very brilliant journalists who were brave and critical. Unfortunately, there are few of them today.
“Senegal used to have open media and vibrant one those days, but the situation has changed,” he said.
Karikari also acknowledged Benin Republic as where movement for democratisation standard began, but regretted that the country now had a reactionary government.
Media in Africa, particularly the West African region, had been diluted as against what it used to be, he said.
He, however, urged young journalists on the continent to begin to think and act to bring improvement and changes to this worrisome development.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 20 fellows are in Ghana for a two-week in-person meeting for the fellowship, meant to deepen awareness around digital public infrastructure in West Africa.
