Let’s sustain presidential media interactions

The maiden media interaction with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has generally been lauded.

The well-attended event, which took place at the Flagstaff House in Accra last Tuesday, also attracted a number of the President’s ministers who were on stand-by to answer follow-up questions from members of the media fraternity.

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor started the bold initiative in 2001, which was adopted by the late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills and sustained by his successor, former President John Dramani Mahama.

The media engagement is a step in the right direction, as it will go a long way to deepen and consolidate democracy and good governance in the country.

It is recalled that in March this year, President Akufo-Addo granted two state media institutions — the Daily Graphic and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) — an exclusive interview. The norm, in the past, had been for our leaders to grant interviews to the foreign media, at the expense of the local media.

It is a feather in the cap of Nana Akufo-Addo’s Presidency that, only six months into his administration, he has decided to submit to the prying eyes of the media.

The President himself has, time and again, insisted that he prefers the noisy, boisterous and sometimes scandalous media of today to the monotonous praise-singing sycophantic one of yesteryears and that he is not disappointed in playing a key role in repealing the Criminal Libel and Seditious laws from Ghana’s statutes.

This assurance from our President is very heart-warming and the Daily Graphic would like to urge him on to do more for the growth of the media and, by extension, enhance the process of democratic consolidation in the country.

A free and vibrant media is always the preferred choice in any democratic dispensation, as it is the cornerstone of all developments.

As the Fourth Estate of the Realm, the media play a pivotal role in good governance and democratic accountability and this cannot be downplayed.

All efforts must be made by all stakeholders, including governance experts, to support and nurture the media in the country.

It is the hope of the Daily Graphic that the media, in collaboration with the National Media Commission, will check some of the excesses of some media practitioners.

Meanwhile, the Daily Graphic cannot overlook some of the minuses of last Tuesday’s media interaction with the President.

Many have questioned the number of media houses or personnel invited to the interaction and the number left out of it.

Over the years, similar presidential media interactions had suffered similar criticism of some media houses being left out of the engagements. It has always been the same sing-song: the audience were packed with party media sympathisers.

In the view of the Daily Graphic, organisers of this all-important media event must find a way to bring on board as many media representatives as possible.

On the whole, the media interaction with the President is a laudable gesture which must be sustained to deepen democracy, accountability and transparency.