THERE WILL BE INK - Initiative for Policy Dialogue

Numerous journalists recounted how these trips serve to influence the media’s reporting ofextractive issues. Mustapha Suleman, with the Daily Graphic newspaper, said that “most of thecoverage of the extractive industries has been from sponsorship from the mining company.”Suleman recounted a trip organized by AngloGold (a major South African mining company) to oneof the mines it operates. Mustapha said the trip included stays in “fine hotels” and “fine meals” butwas surprised by the naïveté of many of the journalists who didn’t consider the company’s ulteriormotives in keeping them “happy.” Suleman said the two-day trip was chock full of informationabout everything the company had done for its employees, but never brought up the project’simpact on the surrounding community. Suleman said that he tried, with difficulty, to pull away fromthe junket to visit the community himself. The company instead insisted on “providing” acommunity member to interview, who Suleman said was obviously put up to the job. Eventually,Suleman ducked out, saying he would fund his own way back, and managed to interview membersof the local community, who told a very different story.Another challenge to reporting on the extractives in Ghana is simply getting permission to travel tocertain areas where businesses are in operation. According to Joss Cephas, a freelancer and writerwith the Daily Guide, Ghana’s Ministry of Mining is responsible for granting passes to journalists tovisit mining areas. Cephas said it’s often very difficult to come by these passes, further restricting themedia from covering the extractives.Ghanaian journalists face especially severe restrictions on access to information when reporting theextractive industries. Cephas said that when he visits the Ministry of Land or the Ministry of Miningto inquire about something related to the extractives, most of the relevant documents are strictlyembargoed, and more so than for other industries. Other journalists said that a major challenge toextractive journalism, like business and economic reporting in general, is lack of access to expertsand sources. Veteran journalist Francis Kokutse said that for there to be better coverage of theextractives, more people (including civil society, academics and analysts) need to be engaged andinvolved in the industry. This would mean more resources for journalists.Even when advocacy groups try to present their own point of view to the media about the impact ofthe mining companies, the extractive businesses often interfere, according to Emelia Ennin, of theDaily Guide. She recalled a meeting organized by the Wassa Association of Communities Affectedby Mining (WACAM), the largest and most organized mining community organization in Ghana.Many journalists were invited and showed up to the meeting in Accra. However, Ennin said,Newmont also sent their public relations team to the meeting and “worked the audience” before themeeting began, in an apparent attempt to discredit the NGO’s findings before they could evenpresent them. Ennin said that it is difficult for non-profits like WACAM to counter “the powerfulPR machines” behind the extractive sector companies.Government intervention presents another problem for journalists seeking to report on theextractive industries. Amos Safo, editor of Public Agenda, said that his newspaper broke a story in2008 about a junket that Anglo-Gold funded for government Members of Parliament, whichresulted in all sorts of positive perks for the South African mining company. Public Agenda thenrevealed that AngloGold was also funding these same politicians’ reelection campaigns. No othermedia outlet pursued this story, no doubt for fear of retribution, which Public Agenda experiencedwhen the MPs brought the newspaper before Ghana’s National Media Commission for penalization.– 49 –