Sector 4: The media practice high levels of professional standards. 4.1 The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards which are enforced by self-regulatory bodies. ANALYSIS: The Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA) has developed a voluntary code of professional standards and established an Ethics Committee. Even though the code is comprehensive and touches on most aspects of professional conduct, it is not fully respected by some of its members. Some of those who were summoned to appear before the Ethics Committee for violating the code have refused to respond to the summons. The National Media Commission as a statutory body faces similar problems since an Accra High Court decided that the NMC does not have the powers to enforce their summons. It has been argued that if journalists were to adhere to the code and dispute settlement procedures, the number of media related court cases, which appear to be on the increase, would be drastically reduced. A closer look at such court cases reveals that indeed a majority of cases could have been avoided if defendants followed professional guidelines in their practice. SCORES: Individual scores: 2, 4, 3, 4, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2 Average score: 2.8 23