Hold Your Fire Nana Aba Anamoah, Sedeeq And Hassi Baniaz

Even as we entreat year 2015 to treat us kind, journalists ought to treat each other kinder lest they expose themselves to unwarranted verbal and physical attack from persons seeking to harm them because of information put in the public domain.
I can’t establish what the guys at Viasat 1 TV did to cause TV 3’s Nana Aba Anamoah to give them a verbal lashing on the New Day show. Although colleagues Sandra Ankobia and Benny Blanco tried to calm the Nana Aba, she nonetheless made it known that the Labone based folks really ought to know their place and not dare compare themselves (news, production, montage, personnel, experience, content and pedigree) wise to the Adesa We based gurus.
She expressed dismay at Viasat’s decision to hold its Jigwe Awards to honour people who made news in 2014 for the good, bad and ugly reasons. In the process she referred to Viasat 1 TV as the ‘kontomire’ station in reference to the colour green which is the stations’ symbol and the Jigwe montage.
Aside nick naming the station with the ‘kontomire’ tag, in the heat of the moment Nana also disclosed that rival TV station UTV offers superior production. The claim did not go down well with some industry people who felt such outburst served no purpose.
Sadeeq Abdulai Abu serving with Viasat 1 as an executive producer clearly took Nana’s claims with a pinch of salt as he used his social media platforms to offer sarcasm at Nana Aba’s rhetoric pointing out a mini singing challenge thrown for the TV 3 staff which mimicked Viasat 1’s initiative. His updates also roped in George Quaye of GH One.
Concerned observers hoped the situation would die off without further incident but as if the aforementioned was not enough Nana Aba yet again critiqued the content of The Mirror newspaper managed by the Graphic Communications Group Limited and in the process gained a new foe in Zainabu Issah aka Hassi Baniaz, a worker at Daily Graphic.
For those who have encountered Baniaz including my good self, she holds no punches and in typical manner questioned the qualification of Nana Aba as a journalist to be pooh-poohing the works of others. She on her facebook page asserted: “So how authentic is Nana Aba Anamoah of TV3 to have the “balls” to critique The Mirror Newspaper? Is it her one-month short course in Journalism at GIJ or what? Yenim wu fre titi, don’t start your year like this with the GCGL. You might end up on the “Fanti Fanti” side of the whole scenario after your “Kontomire” nonsense with another TV station.
That single post spread like wild fire across the social media sphere and ignited the debate about the appropriateness of journalists and media persons attacking themselves and rival organisations. For some, Nana Aba has not only grown wings but is now growing horns and must be put in her place whiles others tagged her as a fearless professional who speaks her mind without fear or favour.
Interestingly enough, not too long ago, rumours were rife that Nana Aba was eager to leave TV3. Eventually she did stay, perhaps the New Day Show did the trick.
As someone who has worked with radio stations, TV station and an online news organization, the one lesson is not to berate rival media organisations because the trade is unpredictable and one station which might appear good today might turn out sour tomorrow.
A good example is Kofi Asare Brako aka Abatey, one time sports editor at Peace FM who took delight in jeering at the sports folks at rivals Adom FM but when the union turned sour with the Peace bosses, it was to Adom FM Abatey went then to Asempa FM before recently leaving for Atinka FM.
Another is Adakabre Frimpong Manso then serving with Adom FM operated by the Multimedia Group who moved to Hot Radio, back to Adom FM and curiously to Neat FM operated by the Despite Group.
Abeiku Santana serves as another example, a pillar at Adom FM who threw occasional jabs at Peace FM, when he decided to jump ship he had one destination in mind, Okay FM.
Clearly it serves little purpose to burn the bridges one could need in the future. It is for that reason I implore Nana Aba to tread cautiously, cultivating media foes does no good.
Another concern with the recent trend is opening the door and emboldening sick minds to attack journalists and medal personnel who go about their duties. The case of Adom FM’s editor and presenter Afia Pokua aka Vim Lady is fresh in our minds where after 2 Adom media guys were assaulted at an NHIS post for seeking answers to claims made by clients the Vim Lady became the 3rd causality.
Afia’s case gained currency in the media because of the platform she has but in 2014 there were other attacks on journalists and media folks in the course of simply doing their work. If we don’t protect each other we risk coming under further attacks.
Now it’s the time to close our ranks and put up a united front whiles addressing deficiencies without rancour.
Michael eli dokosi