Mr. Charles Abani, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ghana, has stated that freedom is essential to create, express, dissent, and envision a better future.
Mr. Abani added that freedom meant unrestricted access to information, varied viewpoints, and platforms that would raise previously excluded voices.
Speaking at the just-ended third African Media Convention 2024, he said there was a need to safeguard freedom, not just as a right but as a responsibility, ensuring that the media remained resilient against censorship, manipulation, and monopolization.
He said the media had an incomparable ability to inform, educate, and inspire, stressing that it was crucial to work together, make the voices of the oppressed heard, hold the powerful accountable, and promote understanding in the various communities.
“Africa is a canvas with rich untold stories; with its different cultures, languages, landscapes, and viewpoints, its resiliency and creativity, and inside that fabric, there are issues that require attention,” he stated.
Mr. Abani explained that freedom must be coupled with innovation, which is the thriving force behind the advancement of many sectors and could have a significant impact on the media as well.
He mentioned that the advent of social media had also broken barriers of entry and empowered individuals and communities to become creators and distributors of news and entertainment, which had ushered production into an era of diversity and plurality, amplifying voices that were once marginalized and challenging the hegemony of mainstream narratives.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator explained that promoting an environment where innovation thrived, creativity flourished, and experimentation was celebrated unashamedly and fearlessly, and paving the way for a new media ecosystem that was dynamic, resilient, honest, and safe, was very important.
He said the media had a very strong role to play on the globe from different perspectives, saying that it was important to integrate environmental sustainability into every facet of media production and consumption to forge a pathway for a greener, more equitable future.
Source: GNA
