Don’t be mercenaries; EC boss advises journalists
Investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, was last Saturday named the Journalist of the Year 2015 at the 21st Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards, at which the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei, urged media owners and journalists to resist any attempt to be used as mercenaries in the run up to the December general election.
“Doing so will hinder the growth of the media and turn the admiration people ought to have for the media into disdain and contempt. A journalist who allows himself or herself to be used as an agent of destruction is not different from the proverbial goat which aims at destroying the wall but ends up losing its fur,” she stated.
She said the power of the media as a constructive and destructive force ought not to be underestimated, noting that the use of that power ought to be geared towards the desire and willingness to ensure that the right things would be done in the country.
Towards that end, she said, the core mandate of the media in an election year should be directed at “working to sustain the peace and unity of this country”.
Addressing the awards ceremony in Accra last Saturday, Mrs Osei said it seemed that the true values that underpinned the peace and unity of the country had been sacrificed on the altar of multi-party democracy.
She, therefore, urged the media to help retrace the steps towards the restoration of oneness, respect for one another and the common purpose of national development.
Awards
Anas was rewarded for his investigative piece on judicial corruption that led to the dismissal of some judges of the superior and lower courts in 2015.
For his prize, he was given a brand new Hyundai Creta SUV donated by Ideal Finance.
This is the second time Anas has won the Journalist of the Year award, having won it in 2006.
He also won the Best Investigative Journalist award in 2008.
Osagyefo Oseadeayo Agyeman Badu II (2nd left), Dormaahene, presenting the Professor PAV Ansah journalist of the year award to Anas Areyaw Anas.
GJA Award winners
The Journalist of the Year award was among 25 awards on offer to recognise excellent journalism in various categories.
Some journalists won multiple awards.
Mr Elvis Darko of the Finder newspaper also walked away with a brand new saloon vehicle (also donated by Ideal Finance) for being the Best in Financial Reporting.
Seven journalists of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) also won awards.
They are Samuel Tei Adano (Photo Journalism), Samuel Doe Ablordeppey (Telecommunications), Gabriel Ahiabor (Agriculture), Dotsey Koblah Aklorbortu (Oil and Gas), Rebecca Kwei (Science), Emmanuel Baah (Education) and Maxwell Akalaare Adombilla (Komla Dumor Most Promising Journalist).
Other winners
Other award winners were Benedict Owusu, Joy News (Sports - Radio); John Vigah, Ghanaian Times (Sports - Print, Investigative Reporting); Gabriel Obodai Torbor-Ashong, Metro TV (Human Rights); Kafui Kanyi, Ghana News Agency (Health and Rural Reporting).
The rest were Beatrice Adu, Joy FM (Crime and Court); Grace Sogbey, Revelation newspaper (News Reporting); Joseph Opoku Gakpo, Joy FM ( Sustainable Development); Kofi Yeboah, Revelation newspaper (Features); Seth Kwame Boateng (Environment, News Reporting - Radio, and Features - Television); Famous Kwesi Atitsogbui, Multimedia Group (SME and Tourism) and Rebecca Awuah, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (Sanitation).
Honorary awards
A former General Secretary of the GJA, Mr Bright Kwame Blewu, who is currently the Director of the Ghana International Press Centre, was given an honorary award.
Six institutions — Ideal Finance, Global Media Alliance, EIB Network (Excellence in Broadcasting), the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Metro TV and Viasat 1 — and Randy Abbey (Good Morning Ghana) — were also presented with honorary awards by the GJA.
Stand for the voiceless
Mrs Osei reminded media practitioners that a free and independent media did not exist to serve the rich and powerful in society but to attend to the needs of the public, especially the voiceless and vulnerable, and that the media ought to help shape the national agenda and not serve as a platform to discuss political trivialities and trade insults.
While commending the media for the massive contribution they had made to the deepening of the country’s democracy, she said they had failed in “telling us what to think” but rather “what to think about”.
She said it was very dangerous for the immense power of the media to be left in the hands of persons with the tendency to use that power to undo the progress of the nation through insults and hate speech.
“While the power of the media cannot be underestimated, how that power is used is what matters. We cannot afford to have a passive media,” she said.
Mrs Charlotte Osei (left), Chairperson, Electoral Commission, welcoming Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu II, the Dormaahene, to the awards ceremony. With them is Mr Affail Monney. Picture: EMMANUEL ASAMOAH ADDAI
Serial callers
Mrs Osei said Ghanaians now lived in a situation where complaints about media unfairness and excesses were rampant and worrying for a large majority of the citizenry.
“And here, I refer not only to wrong, inaccurate, defamatory, deliberately misleading articles and headlines about persons and institutions but also untruths, errors, inaccuracies, unsubstantiated allegations which media organisations permit on their platforms by serial callers and political actors,” she stated.
She said the media seemed to have ceded the power to set the national agenda to “politicians and their paid serial callers”.
She said while it might not be entirely wrong to hand the microphones and newspaper columns to persons with useful contributions to make, it was dangerous to open the media space to vicious attackers of dissenting views and people who were skilled in insulting and undermining public persons and institutions.
She urged media practitioners to use their medium to protect the most vulnerable from greedy public servants who stole medical equipment meant to serve the needs of our population, or from abuse of power from any form of authority.
“Discussing trivialities from dawn to dusk on radio about political leaders and allegations without basis on the electoral process and allowing invectives to be poured on public persons and institutions alike are not the reasons we made so many sacrifices to guarantee free speech and an independent press,” she stated.
Be knowledgeable about electoral issues
Going into the December polls, she said the media ought to be abreast of all issues regarding the electoral process in order to inform and educate the populace on how to go about the elections in a peaceful and responsible manner.
“We cannot afford to have a media that are not knowledgeable about the electoral processes. Don’t base your reports on mere speculations and rumours because your failure to report accurately can lead to disputes,” she said.
The elections, she said, were not about which political party or personality would win but the future of the country, adding that that was a cause that all must work for.
Mrs Osei said the role of the media in the electoral process had moved from being passive conveyers of certified results to that of an active force that “polices every aspect of our electoral process”.
She explained that the freedoms given to the media in Ghana were to enable them to function freely “to protect not the interest of politicians, not the interest of the powerful nor those who pay the most but the interest of the public”.
To attain that, she said, the media must act responsibly by respecting the truth, “acting within the law, respecting the rights and liberties of individuals in society and respecting the values of the society in which they operate”.
Freedom not absolute
The Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, commended the media for the critical role they had played in making the country’s democracy a showpiece to the rest of the world, saying Ghana had become the envy of many countries around the world.
This year, he said, the professionalism of the media would be tested at a much higher level as the nation geared itself up for the December polls.
He cautioned against extreme practices that blurred the line between freedom and responsibility and cautioned against ethical recklessness in the media landscape, including social media.
Dr Omane Boamah reminded media practitioners that freedom of the press was not absolute and called for self-regulation in the discharge of their professional duties as the country approached the general election.
The President of the Dormaa Traditional Area, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu II, who chaired the function, said while immeasurable standards had been set through the hard work of a good number of journalists, there had been some instances that had left much to be desired.
He called for the strict implementation of the tenets of the profession to win the confidence of the populace and also urged the media to ensure that this year’s election campaign was issue-based and not insult-based.
Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu advised politicians, especially those vying for the presidency, to refrain from acts and pronouncements that would serve to demean the high office that they were craving for and called for decorum, regardless of the level of provocation.
New code of ethics
The President of the GJA, Mr Affail Monney, in his welcome address, said in the year under review, the media had played frontal and indispensable roles in exposing dark spots in society, holding the government to account and deepening the culture of free speech.
“All these glittering achievements, however, do not obscure the perpetration of mediocrity, the sins of unethical conduct and the spread of linguistic poison in sections of the media.
“The GJA, in responding to these, has come out with a new code of ethics, with the support of the Friederich Ebert Foundation, and we hope to launch this code in readiness for Election 2016 and beyond to help sharpen our professional performance, detoxify the political space and deodorise the media scene.”