Placing a searchlight on Ghana’s media
This week, Ghana hosted the world’s media to
deliberate on press freedom, in an annual celebration known as World Press
Freedom Day. Throughout the week, the sad fact was highlighted that journalists
are being molested in various parts of the world for alleged crimes. Autocrats intensely
hate journalists. Autocracy comes from the need some human beings have to
control others. Not surprisingly, there are autocrats even in democracies.
There
is autocracy even in democratic Ghana!
The seed for World Press Freedom Day was planted on
the African continent at a UNESCO seminar held in Windhoek, the capital of
Namibia from April 29 to May 3 in 1991. The theme of the historic seminar was:
“Promoting an independent and pluralistic African press.” The participants of
the seminar were mostly newspaper journalists including Ghana’s own Ajoa
Yeboah-Afari. The output of that seminar was a statement of press freedom
principles, which became known as the Windhoek Declaration.
In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed
the Declaration, and of May 3rd each year as a day to shine the
searchlight on press freedom around the world. Press freedom translates to
safety of journalists, as well as the independence and pluralism of the media.
MEDIA FREEDOM
& PLURALISM
Without a doubt, considering our history from under
the mighty thumbs of dictators when Ghanaians dared not express their opinions
publicly, our country has achieved media freedom and pluralism. We probably have
too much pluralism! That a small country like Ghana has over 400 radio stations
beats my mind!
What is the purpose of pluralism, and of many that do
the same/similar things? It is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate
one radio station from the other. Our radio stations are just twining in
content, following the same programming formats with little effort at
originality and creativity. In a copycat fashion, in the mornings, everyone reviews
newspapers.
Many radio and television stations have little or no quality
content; and only exist to waste valuably national resource of frequency. For a
developing country, one would expect our broadcasting airwaves to be used for
important issues. Rather, they are filled with frivolous content. Whilst we
claim to be enjoying a free media, there has been a bogus exploitative Christian
prophetic capture of our airwaves.
Press freedom is not just about the freedom of
journalists. At the heart of press freedom is the freedom of the citizenry.
Anyone in Ghana could make telephone calls to radio stations. That is a good
thing; a very very good thing. Yet, the media remains elitist and access is
beyond the reach of the many poor and underprivileged.
Even in this our free press environment, funny things
happen. Government officials and powerful folks are able to influence what
journalists report on. Instead of the media setting the agenda, powerful people
are setting some of the media’s agenda.
I have been writing this column for the past 12 years.
Behind the scenes, I have been the subject of attacks by politicians whenever I
venture into issues that a powerful somebody considers as unpalatable. On a number
of occasions, this column was under pressure, with efforts to muzzle and silence
me, and even shut it down.
Not surprisingly, even though we brag to be in a
burgeoning democracy, some of our journalists engage in self-censorship, by
which they turn on their own internal antenna to avoid touching on issues they
know will upset the powers that be. Without a doubt, self-censorship is the
most insidious form of censorship.
INDEPENDENCE
OF GHANA’S MEDIA
We exhibit troubling cracks in this democracy. There
are aspects of Ghana’s media that have not attained the independence that was
sought after in the Windhoek Declaration. As matters currently stand, Ghana’s
media can easily be used as a tool by the highest bidder. Soli (the payment of
gifts to journalists) constitutes bribery of the integrity of the mass media of
public communication. This means that the media, which is meant to belong to us
all, can be privatized by a few self-centred individuals and institutions
through illicit acts of bribery. After money changes hands, a journalist could
be motivated to either kill a story or report it in a fashion that will please
the paymaster because as the adage goes, “Whoever pays the piper calls the
tune.”
The media could also become tools for character assassination.
Anytime you hear some media houses dwelling so much on a story and prosecuting
issues without regard to basic principles of objectivity and balance, be
cynical because something untoward might have happened on our collective blindside.
Our journalists are not finishing stories to their
logical (and illogical) conclusions. There is a herd mentality by which
everyone follows the same story whilst it is hot, and all move away to follow
the next hot topic. Meanwhile, the previous topic is abandoned. This creates
opportunities for crafty politicians and business people to manipulate the
media by shifting our attention from hot issues they are uncomfortable with.
This scenario is happening more often that we could imagine. Stories are being
planted in the midst of certain news cycles. As a result, Ghana’s media content
is like a graveyard, replete with unfinished stories.
SAFETY OF
JOURNALISTS
Apart from the media’s own internal weaknesses, there
are external forces. Periodically, police officers and citizens beat up journalists.
So although Ghana is supposed to be doing very well on the Press Freedom Index,
this country records one of the highest incidence of violence inflicted on
journalists in West Africa.
This makes it dangerous to be a journalist in Ghana
because at any moment, one could be beaten up. So although journalists in Ghana
are not in prison, sadly, on any ordinary tropical sunny or rain-soaked flooded
day, they could receive horrible beatings, and end up with cracked skulls!
DEALING
WITH THE SHIFTING SANDS OF MEDIA
Freedom is not like a rock; it is more like shifting sands.
As you walk through the sand, your grip loosens and you might experience a
sinking sensation and loss of balance. Like a normal human institution, the
media is not constant. It changes over time to correspond with changes in
society. So despite the gains, there is a need for us to constantly “shine our
eyes” over the media space because if we blink for too long, we could lose our
freedom without even knowing that we had lost it.
We need to be eternally vigilant. On one hand, citizens
should pay close attention to what is happening in the media and call to order,
journalists and the entire media establishment when they feel uneasy about the
goings-on. On the other hand, journalists should be courageous and have the
love for Ghana as their guide. They should fearlessly confront the system and
speak truth to power. They should train their minds for good analytic work
because “a mind is like a parachute; it only functions when opened.”
The anchor of Ghana’s media must hold because if we
lose the gains of freedom and independence of the media, our democracy will
sink in the shifting sand.
The
writer is a member of the National Media Commission (NMC)
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