General News of Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Source: Koku Anyidoho(Head, Communications)

Graphic Is Not For The NPP -NDC

The Office Of NDC Leader and Presidential Candidate, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, is putting it out that, Daily Graphic, with Ransford Tetteh as its Editor, is not being fair to the NDC’s Presidential Candidate.

The biased reportage by the Daily Graphic in favour of the NPP’s flagbearer, is reaching an unacceptable crescendo as stories sent to the Paper from Professor Mills’ office are not hitting the pages.

We know it for a fact that apart from the Political Editor of the Daily Graphic taking a keen interest in the activities of Nana Akufo-Addo and his wife, stories sent to the paper from the outfit of the NPP flagbearer, get published with gusto.

In particular, stories about the recent tours of Mrs. Naadu Mills, to some markets in Accra have not been published. We are prepared to provide irrefutable evidence that the Daily Graphic received the stories and pictures but refused to publish them.

On the contrary, dead stories about the wife of Rebecca Akufo-Addo, are constantly published by the Daily Graphic.

Also, the adding of the signature of Professor Mills to the signatures of persons asking for the freeing of jailed one-time GNPC boss, Tsatsu Tsikata, which was covered by Graphich’s Timothy Gobah, has also not appeared in the national daily.

We agree that the Daily Graphic has the right to exercise its discretion, but the exercise of such discretion is becoming nauseating.

Indeed, a couple of weeks ago, the Center for Media Analysis, headed by Dr. Messan Mawugbe, after doing a detailed content analysis of the Daily Graphic, came out with a report pointing to the fact that the NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo are getting more coverage than the NDC and Professor Atta Mills, as well as other political parties and the Leaders of those parties.

Ransford Tetteh must be in the know that the Daily Graphic does not belong to the NPP and he must also know that he is being paid to serve the national interest and not the interest of the NPP.

We also want Ransford Tetteh to know that, whether he gives Professor Mills fair coverage or not, Professor Atta Mills shall be the next President of the Republic of Ghana.

However, we are asking Ransford Tetteh to do what is right and proper, as Ghana grows its democratic dispensation.

The Office of Professor Mills, per this release, is commending Ghana Broadcasting Corporation for its fair approach to giving Professor Atta Mills the needed space and we hope that the middle line approach by the national broadcaster, will not wane.