SECTOR 1 Overall, however, panelists were unanimous that the Ghanaian media enjoy freedom to operate and perform their responsibilities. 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: 4.0 (2008: 4.5; 2006: 4.2) 1.2 The right to freedom of expression is practised and citizens, including journalists, are asserting their rights without fear. Panelists differed in their assessment of how wide the space for freedom of expression actually is. Some said that this right does not mean freedom to say anything anyhow, pointing out that there are practices that guide communication even in people’s homes and that these should also be applied in the public sphere. They argued that the fear factor is negligible in spite of a few arrests and incidents of a clamp down on demonstrators, where people had overstepped certain boundaries. Others argued that the extent of the right to freedom of expression depends on what is being said and to whom and that statements must be “politically correct to avoid a pick up by the security forces”. Those who are able to express themselves freely seem to be those who have some political backing and those without any such backing are generally careful with their utterances: “If I am alone, that is where the fear comes in”. Freedom of expression is usually inhibited by economic considerations and people may be given ‘friendly warnings’. The economic factor has considerable weight in a country where many young people are unemployed and looking for favours from political elites. For fear of political clashes, or for missing out on political and economic favours, individuals may decide to be circumspect in their expression rather than fearing any actual restrictions imposed by law. Such individuals may 12 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GHANA 2011