
Audio By Carbonatix
A law lecturer at the GIMPA Law Faculty has cautioned journalists against covering every event at the polling center, including events from within the voting booth.
Justice Srem-Sai explained that the booth protects the secrecy of the ballot, therefore, journalists have no business zooming in to events happening in the booth.
"Inherent in the right to vote is secret ballot. So then, the person who is voting or the public you are even seeking to protect, has an inherent right to vote and vote in secret," he said.
Speaking on JoyNews' 'The Law' on Sunday, Mr Srem-Sai noted that, although journalists are required to bring to the public accurate reportage of events from the election grounds, they, however, are restricted to recording events from the voting booth.
"The election coverage procedure is always finding the legal ground between two rights; the right of the public to information [transparency] which is embodied in the journalist, and also the right to privacy of the persons who are exercising their franchise.
"The right of secrecy is protected by the law, just as the law protects the rights and freedoms of the journalist in performing their duties," he added.
He further urged the Electoral Commission and other authorities in charge of the elections not to limit electoral coverage accreditation to only established media houses.
Justice Srem-Sai argues that, it requires the efforts of journalists to bring to the public events from the election ground since ordinary persons are not entitled to go beyond certain perimeters set by the EC.
Therefore, accreditation should not be used as a means to limit people from having access to information and coverage.
“When you look at some [channels] that operate online, Kofi Tv for instance, they really have a large following. So such channels should not be denied accreditation,” he said.
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