Party press is dead in Ghana – Prof Karikari

By
Iddi Yire/Emmanuel Todd, GNA

Accra, Sept 11, GNA – Professor Kwame
Karikari, former Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa has
reiterated that the era of party press was dead in Ghana.

He said despite several efforts being made
by some people to revive some partisan news outlets, the birth of other forms
of journalism which made quite significant impacts had overridden their
impacts.

Prof Karikari, who is also the Dean of the
School of Communication Studies of Wisconsin International University College,
Ghana, made the remarks in his presentation on Accra at a public lecture to
mark the 70th Anniversary of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) on the
theme “Journalism yesterday and today: Repositioning media with
technology.

“There is the death of the party press
and you still see that some people are trying almost painstakingly to revive
the statesman of old and other papers. 

“I think that essentially the party
press is dead. The party press is dead but there is the birth of political
radios and the introduction of serial callers, and this is also accentuated by
new entrants.”

He said people were using the media for
propaganda or for the so called political communication, which was still
dominated by personality attacks and insults.

“I think in my estimation, there has
been quiet some progress in journalism in our time, we can see or we can
testify to a number of radio stations whose professionalism can equal any of
the best anywhere in the world, I think and you all can attest to that.”

Prof Karikari said one of the threats to the
media industry was the huge electricity bills owed by most media houses and
that if the service providers dared to cut power, it would be a disaster.

He said there was the need for journalists
to exercise professionalism as they discharged their duties in order to curb
the menace of fake news.

Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of
Information, who congratulated the GJA on its 70th Anniversary, urged
journalists in the country to uphold professionalism and integrity of their
profession.

Mr Affail Monney, the President of the GJA
appealed to the government to ensure that killers of the late Ahmed
Hussein-Suale, an investigative journalist who was assassinated last year were
brought to book.

Madam Elizabeth Ohene, a former Editor of
the Daily Graphic, who chaired the function, advised journalists to pay
attention to the contents of the publications.

Mr Godwin Avenogbor, the Director of
Communications, Melcom Group of Companies appealed to the GJA to recognise and
appreciate the sacrifices and contributions of the old guards of the
Association.

GNA