Direction Of Media Spells Doom For The Nation - Bagbin

The Minority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin has criticised the performance of the media since the change of government saying they have demonstrated that they are prepared to relinquish their constitutional role and change the direction of democracy.

He said at a ceremony in Accra to mark this year's World Press Freedom Day celebration that unless a remedy is found, the direction the media is heading could spell doom for the nation. Mr. Bagbin said there is a growing partisanship of the media that is drawing a wedge between genuine practitioners of the trade and others who are more or less politicians who have become tin gods and disregarded the very institutions that have fought gallantly to win and uphold media freedoms. He was presenting a paper on "The Role of the Media in Upholding the Responsibility and Accountability of the Government to the People of Ghana".

Mr Bagbin said it is worrying that some media managers and editors openly derided the Ethics Committee of the GJA and the National Media Commission itself. He said the greatest threat to media public accountability is no longer gagging dictators clamping down on the press or the criminal libel law or any obnoxious laws in the statutory books. He said the media's worse enemy are media personnel themselves. Mr Bagbin said the constitution has given the media sweeping liberties and protection and Ghanaians therefore expect nothing less than the media living up to their responsibility of being the Fourth Estate of the Realm.

Mr Bagbin said what he has observed on the other hand is that media gurus could tolerate physical harassment more than criticism that made them sore and vengeful. He said there are about 70 newspapers in circulation, about 10 TV establishments and about 50 radio stations. He said the pressure from these with collective citizen action and minority political parties could compel government to institute meaningful reforms necessary to reduce corruption and accelerate economic development. However, Mr. Bagbin said the watchdog role of the media has virtually been pushed to the corridors of the minority political parties.

He said this is because some senior journalists were appointed to high offices of the NPP Administration with a number of others serving on various boards, adding that these have influenced their ability and objectivity to uphold the accountability and responsibility of the government to the people of Ghana. He said a close interaction between the media and government must not be necessarily negative, adding that as Ghanaians, media personnel are entitled to accept such appointments but that relationship should not turn into an illicit love affair with negative consequences.