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Opinions of Wednesday, 18 July 2018

Columnist: Samuel Darko Appiah

How BBC left Sulemana Braimah empty

Investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas Investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas

This is what Kweku Baako said:

"I had said so publicly that it was a joint project . . . why I said so was because the people who were dealing with Anas three of them I know for the last 30 to 40 years were BBC people.

Apparently, they've left BBC but they're part of the technical team.

They came to me, I dealt with them on so many things . . . so I assumed.

So I was wrong . . . and that is why the BBC made Anas to go on air to clear the misconception.

This Sulemana stuff is belated because already Anas had cleared the air.

I accept responsibility for what I put out there and if people got deceived I apologize . . . I said so because I just thought it was the truth I was putting out . . . whatever it is, Kweku Baako takes full responsibility for that misrepresentation or misinformation I put out there, and I sincerely apologize".

Mr. Baako also expressed a sentiment on displeasure of BBC when contents of the story were put out and arrests were made before Number12 and Betraying the Game were shown. Obviously any journalist or media house would want to be the first to put out content of their work and impact to follow after its broadcast and not the reverse.

Mr Baako never said the the collaboration was in relation to the undercover work.

The collaboration BBC had with Anas was teaming up to broadcast the footage Anas gathered during the undercover work.

It will interest you to know that BBC had a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Anas on the collaboration to broadcast Number 12.

Sulemana Braimah head of Media Foundation for West Africa wrote an article to the effect that #Number12 is not journalism which was widely circulated.

He therefore contacted BBC to know why the broadcaster aired Anas' work which is not journalism.

He also sought to find out if BBC journalists and money supported Anas’ work.

BBC replies to says Anas' work is very good with huge public interest.

BBC says it produced the film on Anas work and gave critics of Anas' the opportunity to also air their views.

BBC says it is overwhelmingly in the public interest to show Anas work and that it works with Anas and will continue to work with him.

It even advertises Anas’ next documentary which will be shown on BBC on the 15th of August, 2018.

BBC calls Anas' work extraordinary revelations.

He turns around to clutch unto straw; labouring under the misconception that once Mr Baako said Number12 is a joint project with BBC, it means Anas is discredited, Really?

I hope this is not a position shared by Media Foundation for West Africa but one of an over enthusiast boss who thought he had finally discredited Anas’ work after a failed attempt to tag Number12 as a non journalistic work.

What is collaboration? Collaboration as has been used by Anas and BBC has never been about the undercover work Anas did on corruption in African football.

It will always be and it is the independent work of media house Tiger Eye PI.

Collaboration here is about the two media houses joining forces to show Number12 to a wider audience.

It is the same collaboration Anas has enjoyed with brands like Aljazeera.

You set your own questions, you got a deserving answer.

You even had the audacity to make it public without attaching the questions.

Even more worrying for a head of a media organization is to take a ‘screen shot” of portions of responses to a complaint.

Truth stands