Journalist Association objects to committee on print media practice

The national executive of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) on Tuesday stopped the National Media Commission (NMC) from inaugurating a committee to set guidelines for print media practice.

The GJA President, Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie and her executives arrived at the offices of the NMC at about 0945 hours when the NMC members and staff were preparing for the inauguration ceremony scheduled for 1100hours.

Members of the committee and representatives of the media in the waiting rooms of the NMC waited for well over an hour while the GJA and NMC met behind closed doors to resolve the differences.

When journalists assigned to cover the event threatened to boycott it after waiting till 1145 hours without being told anything, Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, Executive Secretary of the NMC, came out of the conference room and told them that the GJA executive had raised questions about the inauguration of the committee.

These were said to be the mode of selection of the members, questions on some of the members and the scope of representation of the committee, among others.

Mr Matthew McKwame, a GJA executive member, told the GNA that the work of the committee was going to have an impact on the practice of journalism in the country and it was only proper for the GJA to have been consulted at all stages of its constitution.

"Such a committee may have legal powers and we therefore need to know what our members stand to face under it before we subject ourselves to their dictates," he said.

Mrs Affenyi-Dadzie said: "We cannot sit by and watch such an important committee to be inaugurated with powers to guide our members without making the necessary input, only to be asked what we did during its inauguration."

The NMC Chairman, Mr Nutifafa Kuenyehia and his executive thought the concerns of the GJA leadership were justifiable and therefore upheld them and postponed the inauguration.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kuenyehia has applauded journalists for the good and extensive coverage of last year's elections. This was during the launch of a Report on "Media Coverage of the Political Parties Election 2000."

He noted that the media did a yeoman's job, but added that there was still room to improve in news coverage in the country. Mr Kuenyehia observed that after the election the trend of political party coverage had changed from an anti-government intensive to a pro-government one.

He urged journalists to adopt a professional approach to the coverage of governments and political parties as a whole to ensure that the focus of media coverage was towards national development rather than a partisan course.

"It is high time journalists stayed away from the majority and minority party leanings and focused on promoting the national cause," he said.

"Journalism must focus on bridging divides in society rather than supporting factions." Mr Kuenyehia described as regrettable the lack of adequate resources available to the NMC to carry out its constitutional mandate of regularly monitoring the media landscape.

He therefore appealed to the government and the people to provide the needed resource for the NMC to ensure high standards in the practice of journalism.

He thanked collaborators and sponsors of the 30-page report and expressed the hope that it would be a point of reference for high standards in journalism.