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The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Kweku Baako Jnr. has challenged Dr. Mensa Otabils’ description of the Ghanaian media as a war zone.
He believes it is flawed.
“Is it true that Ghana has stopped thinking or all Ghanaians have stopped thinking? Is it true that if you look out there in the public domain, in terms of the media – both print and electronic – and you look at the institutions of state – parliament, the executive, the judiciary and civil society, if you like – is it true that it is all that bad? That none of these groups is talking about the positives of our development?” a surprised Baako quizzed.
Mr Baako made these comments on Joy FM’s Newsfile also televised live on Multi TV Saturday, in reaction to comments made by the General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church, Dr. Otabil who has bemoaned the rate at which the media was focusing on projecting intemperate language and other peripheral issues to the detriment of national development.
Dr. Otabil on Friday, among other things, said: “Today our media landscape has the appearance of a war zone. In the media, anonymous snipers callously shoot down their human targets. Character assassins take on contracts to eliminate opponents with innuendos, rumours, and outright lies.”
But Mr. Baako said “I prefer ugly noises to a situation of culture of silence.”
He believes a content analysis of the Ghanaian media will prove that the media in its entirety is positive for the nation, that peurging critics to look beyond the front pages of the newspapers before coming to such conclusions.
Explaining what might be the reason behind the sensational stories dominating the media landscape, Mr. Baako said most media houses will want to beat the competition in order to survive.
“Some of us who are in the private media, with our small resource base and small personnel -I mean so many constraints- in a very competitive environment, most often on my front page you would not see somebody who has gone to commission a KVIP or even a road, however important it is… When there are other burning political public interest stories out there within that period of time, commercially, economically, businesswise, it won’t make sense to me,” he said adding, “at the end of the month I have to pay my staff.”
He said most media houses place emphasis on developmental issues which are keenly followed by people and that the electronic media also delve into such issues to unearth the truth behind them on a daily basis.
He insisted that “a comprehensive analysis and assessment of Ghanaian journalism – print and electronic – will not support the view that all we are doing is just promoting sensationalism, insults, lies, defamation; No!”
He however agreed that there is a sub-culture of insults and lies being perpetrated by journalists in the country and for which “we ought to cure that mischief.”
He said sanctions should be used against journalists who decide to throw out ethics of the profession to the dogs, stressing that individuals have a right to use rejoinders, the Complaints Settlement Committee of the National Media Commission (NMC) as well as the courts to seek redress and called on editors to have self-discipline and self-restraint when churning out news.
He said religious leaders, NGOs and other civil society groups must take parts of the blame for sometimes coming out with untruths that can affect the media.
He further counseled Dr. Otabil, saying “fine, it is good to hear people like that but he should be careful. He might even become a target of attack for saying such things.
Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
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