SECTOR 4 conditions, it is especially difficult to produce high-quality investigative reports, which would take more time and resources. One media panellist described having to travel to Burkina Faso to investigate a piece; “But not many media houses in Ghana can afford to send their journalists out to do this, nor can many journalists do this themselves.” Additional constraints can include news sources too. “Sometimes you want to get their side of the story but no one is talking, and they’re keeping information from journalists.” Panellists agreed that journalists can and should do better. “Lots of media houses are settling cases out of court. This is expensive, and it is, in fact, avoidable. A lot of this is just based on recklessness.” Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.7 (2006:2.8; 2008:2.5; 2011:2.5; 2013:2.9) 4.2 The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards, which are enforced by independent/nonstatutory bodies that deal with complaints from the public. Both the GJA (to which journalists subscribe as individual members) and GIBA (which is an association of owners, not practitioners) have codes, but these are not well publicised, and members of the public do not have confidence in their ethics committee. The GJA Code of Ethics is considered ineffective by some, and various media houses have come up with their own codes. “By and large, the main established stations have their own codes of ethics, but many journalists themselves don’t know them well.” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GHANA 2017 61