Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has appealed to the media and journalists to strive to protect and preserve the unity and stability of the country.
He said the media, considered as the fourth estate of the realm, owed a duty to safeguard Ghana’s democracy by promoting peace, rather than stoking tension in the name of politics.
The Asantehene was speaking at the maiden national media capacity enhancement programme under the auspices of the Ministry of Information.
“The media will be doing a great service to the nation, and indeed to humanity if they can create an environment which encourages consensus-building to help lower the causes of tension within the body politic.”
He asked media to disabuse its mind of the misconception that its freedom was absolute.
“The removal of the criminal libel law only removed the criminal element which could send journalists to jail. But the right of the citizen to have recourse to the law for the protection of their reputation against defamation by the media remains absolutely intact,” he said.
Turning his attention on Parliament, the Asantehene said he was concerned that Members of Parliament abandoned their debating skills and resorted to fisticuffs on the floor of Parliament during one of its sittings last year.
“The commencement of work in the 8th Parliament of the Fourth Republic had not been in the most edifying tradition, but no one could have expected that the year 2021 would conclude with our honourable House degenerated into a brawl with very honourable members putting aside their debating skills in order to exhibit their punching prowess”.
He said it was necessary “for us to take a good look at ourselves and the path we have embarked upon, seek any fault-lines that may appear so we can take the appropriate steps to mend them”, adding that, “such constant introspection is necessary if we are to avoid the unexpected and secure the future for generations to come”.
For his part, Prof. Kwabena Kwansah-Aidoo, Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), observed that the media have a core duty to cause transformative change through facilitating access to appropriate and credible information.
Prof. Kwansah-Aidoo said he was worried at declining professionalism and non adherence to ethics.
He, however, observed with concern that the media now was bedeviled with hydra-headed problems including capacity challenges, declining professionalism and an increase in disregard for ethics which affect their ability to play the role envisaged in the 1992 constitution.
And hoped that the successful implementation of the programme would transform the media landscape in the country for the better.
President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Affail Monney, wanted the media to promote civility in public discourse and champion healthy debates of national issues, “bearing in mind that debates are the lifeblood of liberal democracy such as ours”.
The media, he said, should tone down their partisan slant and blatant spin and tone up their independent streak and objective bent “to help meet an ethical imperative of feeding the public with free, fair, balanced and comprehensive information with which they will make reasoned decisions”.
Mr Monney proposed that the programme be executed in tandem with pragmatic steps to improve the working conditions of journalists. The fact is “dwindling revenue stream and expenditure cuts induced by COVID-19 pandemic have conspired to make an already bad situation worse for majority of the media houses and their workers”.
“While public sector workers fight for premium salaries, the minimum wage is a luxury for a countless number of journalists who have even not been paid for months,” he noted.
The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, noted there had not been unity in building solutions to the challenges in the country, thus, limiting the impact of growth.
He explained it was in view of that the Ministry developed series of programmes with stakeholders to support Ghanaian media to enhance capacity in area of ethics and professionalism.
Ms Stephanie S. Sullivan, US Ambassador to Ghana, on her part urged journalists to essentially research, check and double-check sources to seek a different perspective.
She said “don’t be misled by a Kweku Ananse who feeds you one side of a story! We are all better served by well-rounded, fact-based reporting that allows the public to hear all sides. Often, that means not being the first to break the news”.
According to the Ambassador, “with strong and professional reporting, you can bring balance to public policy debates. You can remove emotion and replace it with the facts that let us all participate in democracy. You can give a voice to all sides in a debate even if you personally disagree with some views.
Other speakers included Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, chairman of the National Media Commission, Mr Edwin Arthur, President of the Private Newspapers Printers Association (PRINPAG).
The four-day programme, under the theme “Equipping the media to play an effective role in our nation building”, aimed at enhancing the existing knowledge, skills and qualitative output of media personnel.
It was designed to offer scholarship to 250 journalists to be trained annually to be more professional.
Participants, drawn from all over the country, are expected to deepen their understanding of socio-economic and nation building issues and the forces that shape, influence and constrain nation building, expand the existing knowledge of the role and contribution of news media and interrogate the state of the Ghanaian news media in contemporary socio-economic development and nation building.
Similarly, they would be expected to refine skills fundamental to effective journalistic storytelling, focusing on nation building, consider laws, regulations and ethics and the ways in which they interact with and influence the effective practice of journalism in the country.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, KUMASI
