Media Under Siege - Govt Gags GNA

Staff of national wire service Ghana News Agency (GNA) and a cross section of journalists have deplored what they describe, “sinister and subtle moves being initiated by government to gag the local press through the back door. They especially cited the GNA, the most powerful media house in the country, as the main target of government’s unprogressive attempt to control and box it to a corner so that they sing the master’s tune.

During the last interaction the minister for Information, Nana Akomea (MP) had with the management of the agency, he is reported to have cautioned them to always crosscheck information it picks especially those from foreign news sources on Ghana with his ministry “in the interest of the nation.” The Minister expressed concern especially about a story the agency picked and used that claimed that Ghana is among the five least attractive economic destinations.

The story was used extensively by both the print and electronic media houses, while the flagbearer of the main opposition NDC Professor John Evans Atta Mills made political capital out of it during a recent press conference in Accra quoting the Daily Graphic. The Government reacted sharply through the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Yaw Osafo-Maafo (MP) who accused Prof. Mills of intellectual dishonesty.

He said it was not true that the World Economic Forum ranked Ghana among the least five attractive investment destinations out of a total of 21 countries. Nana Akomea blamed the GNA for “embarrassing the government” since it had been expected that as a state organisation “the least it can do is to cross-check” information picked about the country from a foreign source.

GNA workers scented a rat in the move and suggested that there could be a mechanism as was officially and openly outdoored by the Information Minister that may include intentionally denying the agency vital equipment to work with, lack of motivation and poor working environment. The GNA picked a DPA story that quoted a report the World Economic Forum released at the start of its Economic Summit in South Africa.

Similarly, the Network Herald has been informed that the General secretary of the ruling NPP Dan Botwe has also ordered the management of the agency to cross check statements purported to be emanating from its executives and functionaries from the region before publication.

Consensus among a cross-section of people was that any such attempt could engender disgustful consequences and called on the National Media Commission to intervene and ensure that no media house, state or private, is controlled by government or any body.

Their reasoning was that since the agency served both local and international customers and plays such a vital role in the media landscape with almost all media houses depending largely on it for their news items the new minister should thread cautiously. ”The attempt would affect greatly the quality of news not only at GNA but throughout the country and internationally as both the print and electronic media depend on the agency.