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Top investigative journalist at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Sam Piranty has applauded EIB Network’s investigative journalist Edward Adeti on the receipt of the Article 19 Press Prize.
Piranty, who is known globally for many successful intercontinental investigative exploits, sent the congratulatory message from London after Adeti picked up the award on Saturday in Ghana’s capital, Accra.
“Huge congratulations Edward from me, such a well-deserved award. Investigative reporting is essential to hold those in power to account and your reporting did exactly that. Despite huge pressure and intimidation forced upon you by powerful actors you continued to report the truth, highlighting wrongdoing even when your own safety was at risk. A fantastic achievement that needs to be followed up with greater investment from news organisations in the longer term reporting that produces this sort of essential journalism. Best, Sam,” said Piranty in the message.
The Article 19 Press Prize is an award scheme established by the African Heights Foundation in partnership with an international human rights organisation, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA). The scheme is to encourage journalists to shed the spotlight with exceptional skills on the ills of the criminal justice system from a constitutional and human-rights perspective to cause reforms in the country where they (journalists) practise.
“The Article 19 is the longest article in the Constitution. It is under the Human Rights Chapter. It is about the rights that people have when they are having an interaction with the criminal justice system or the justice system in general. It’s about the presumption of innocence, the definition of what qualifies as a crime and the right to be heard fairly in the court. Those are basically some of the rights captured under Article 19 of the Constitution,” said the President of the African Heights Foundation, Dennis Armah, in an interview with the press at the awards ceremony.
The African Heights Foundation’s boss (Dennis Armah) is one of Ghana’s best-known legal experts. The three other Article 19 Prize winners include the Multimedia Group’s Solomon Joojo Cobbinah, the Daily Graphic’s Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson and Beatrice Spio-Garbrah of TV3, a subsidiary of the Media General.
Adeti, whose award-winning undercover documentary film titled “Cash for Justice” centred on Ghana’s Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department, acknowledged the support he had continued to receive from world-acclaimed investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Kent Mensah, Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, Manasseh Azure Awuni, Nathan Kwabena Adisi (Bola Ray), Kwame Danso-Acheampong, Eyram Bashan and Alex Mensah Kobina among other media greats.
Whilst expressing thanks to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) headquartered in New York and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) for rallying to his defence during trial moments, he also showed appreciation to veteran journalists including Ben Ephson, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako and others whose post-independence struggles he said prepared a solid foundation in Ghana for the generation of journalists that emanated from theirs.
Source: Daily Mail GH
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