Anarchy Reigns Where Journalism Fails

* Food For Thought For CDD, NMC, GJA*

By Herald Reporters

Events of the past weeks have compelled The Herald to dig into the archives of the media to reveal some thought-provoking things on the part of people who have been posing as experts in the field of journalism, as well as good governance.

Joy FM, an Accra-based private radio station had carried a news item which claimed some executives of Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) had been issued with death threats for opposing the STX Korea housing deal in a petition they sent to Parliament, hence were forced to withdraw their protest.

The story did not mention any particular individual/s who received the threat. JoyFM has in the past muffled voices of people who for one reason or the other want their identities protected but in this case, no voice was muffled and the story did not even mentioned which medium the death threat was issued and which police station the death threat was reported.

The police CID summoned JoyFM’s acting News Editor, Ato Kwamena Dadzie, to elicit from him answers as to Who, Where, When, What, Which and How the person/s were threatened and hell broke loose, and the institutions mandated to ensure accuracy in the practice of journalism and good governance went to town, spewing fire and brimstone instead of holding the sanctity of the profession.

Leading the pack of the media dons who have suddenly found their voices are Kabral Blay Amihere of the National Media Commission (NMC), Bright Blewu of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Prof. Kwame Karikari’s Media Foundation for West Africa and the Center for Democratic Governance (CDD) led by Prof. Gyimah Boadi and the latest to wade in is the Danquah Institute, a creation of the New Patriotic Party who are blaming the government and the police for the way they handled the issue.

Suddenly, they forgot to remember the Rwandan Genocide, which was sparked by a reckless female radio journalist, Valerie Bemeriki, who worked for the influential Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), leading to the death of millions of innocent people. She used the network to call on Hutus to seek out and kill Tutsis.

Interestingly, the media dons were dead silent throughout the eight years of the Kufuor administration when journalists were beaten up, threatened with death, hauled before the courts and slapped with very exorbitant fines by appointees of the previous regime.

In 2006, when the then outgoing GJA President, Miss Ajoa Yeboah-Afari and the acting Director of the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr. Bonnah Koomson, commented on a platform at a GJA workshop held in Tamale with sponsorship from the British High Commission for Northern sector journalists, they were emphatic on professionalism in journalism.

The Herald also discovered that the afore-mentioned institutions, especially GJA and NMC are always quick to condemn attacks on Ghanaian journalists when it involves activists of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) but close their eyes on similar attacks on pressmen by thugs linked to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The following instances will suffice:

Richard Winfred Anane’s thugs attacked Enquirer reporters after a decision by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to indict him for conflict of interest after he impregnated an American Woman during an HIV/AIDS conference abroad.

NPP thugs assaulted Adom FM’s Afia Poku and booted her private part at a conference of the party held at the International Trade Fair Center because she had been critical of them while the party was in office.

Alhassan Suhuyini of Radio Gold was mercilessly assaulted by Accra Metropolitan Assembly guards, sometime last year, when he had gone to cover a nocturnal demolishing exercise being carried out near the Accra Mall.

Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini, Night Editor of the Daily Graphic was banned from appearing on Radio Gold’s talk show “Alhaji and Alhaji” to exercise his freedom of speech by the management of Graphic. Both the GJA and NMC were silent on it. That case is still in court with no end in sight. The last we heard of the case was that management was begging the journalist to withdraw the case.

Mr. Ekow Moses, who works for The New Voice Newspaper was badly assaulted at the private residence of the ex-President Kufuor, after he had been sent there by the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) with other pressmen to verify that a torrential rain at the time had razed down part of the residence. None of the media dons made a comment on the matter.

The Mawerehene of Asantehene held a press conference and declared the Ashanti Region a “No Go Area” for Kwesi Pratt, Raymond Archer and Ken Kuranchie because they had raised questions, why an official of the Asantehene stormed the Police Headquarters in the company of kwabena Amaning alias Tagor over the disappearance of 77 parcels of Cocaine from the MV Benjamin shipping vessel. None of the media dons condemned the threat.

George Kufuor, the brother of John Agyekum Kufuor in a libel suit filed against Jojo Bruce Quansah and the Ghanaian Palaver sued the newspaper ¢400 million old Ghana cedis and had judgment awarded in his favor. As if that was not enough embarrassment, seven individuals including two armed policemen raided his house at 3: am in the morning ostensibly to collect the ¢400 million. The GJA, which is the mouth piece of Journalists in this country, did not find it expedient to issue a statement.

Hackman Owusu Agyemang, when he was the Works and Housing minister, sued the editor and the publisher of the Insight newspaper at an Accra Fast Track High court in march of 2005 and was awarded ¢100 Million as compensation for a defamation story carried by the paper.

Mr. Ben Owusu Mensah, Director General of Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority, sued the National Democrat and its editor, Mr. Elliot Felix Ohene ¢500 million in a libel suit filed at the Fast Track high Court. He prayed the court for punitive and aggravated actions against the defendant for publishing offensive and defamatory material against him in their may, 12- 15, 2005 edition of the newspaper.

Mrs. Agnes Sikarmartey, Tema Regional Police Commander: An Accra Fast Track High Court sentenced the Editor of the free press, a private newspaper and two directors of the newspaper for 15 days imprisonment for contempt. This was in respect of a libelous article against the Tema Regional Police Commander which they could not defend. Frank Boahen, the editor, Claude Decker and Thomas Kpakpo Thomson both directors were found liable for disobeying the orders of the court.

Miss Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, who was then Editor of the Ghanaian Times at the conference in Tamale, stressed at the workshop that the time had come for the media to undertake some soul-searching and win back the goodwill journalists were losing. According to Miss Yeboah-Afari, a journalist’s role of information dissemination required that he/she must first be truthful and responsible to the people whom she/he served.

Dr Bonnah Koomson on his part, pointed out that journalists should be intelligent and intellectually honest. He observed that mediocrity, ignorance and incompetence were some of the challenges that had over the years affected the ability of the media to perform creditably.

Dr. Koomsom, who is also the Chairman of GJA Ethics and Disciplinary Council, stated that media practitioners had no moral justification to point out the mistake of others if they were also found wanting in ethical issues.

From the aforementioned scenarios, it is obvious that the GJA, NMC and the CDD have openly displayed their preference. This is very shameful and must be condemned by all. We are told by experts in peacekeeping that the anarchy thrives in places where religion, judiciary and the media have collapsed.

The herald believes that the GJA, NMC and the CDD must exercise fairness at all times and condemn acts that do not promote responsible journalism. This we should do without regardless of who or what media house is involved. What is wrong is wrong and what is right is right. We should not find it convenient to criticize only when a certain political party is in office while we remain tight lipped when another party rules. Ghana is all we have, we have nowhere else to go so journalism must not fail us!