NMC directs Daily Guide to retract story, apologise

The National Media Commission has directed that the Daily Guide News Media apologise to Dr Joseph Gyanteh, a private hospital consultant and a businessman, for publishing a false story about him.

In a release signed by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr Alexander Bannerman, the media house has also been directed to retract the story and publish a rejoinder by Dr Gyanteh.

The directives were given by a committee set up by the NMC to determine a complaint lodged against The Daily Guide News Media by Dr Gyanteh, who is also a businessman.

Dr Gyanteh said in a petition to the commission that the Daily Guide newspaper published a malicious story about him, which had dented his image, his calling and caused huge financial loss to his company as a result of an invitation from the Ghana Police Service to assist locate Dr Harrison Gidisu, whom he helped when he was consulting for Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HEFRA).

In his complaint, Dr Gyanteh stated that while at the police station, a journalist from the Daily Guide News Media requested for an interview, which he granted, only to find out the following day that the said interview he granted had been published in a manner which sought to malign him.

Mischievous headline

He said the paper published a story with his picture and that of Dr Gidisu with a mischievous heading: “Fake Heart Surgeon Grabbed” without identifying the individuals in the photograph.

Daily Guide refused to publish a rejoinder he submitted to them to set the records straight.

However, during the committee’s hearing, the Daily Guide’s Executive Editor, Mr Fortune Alimi, denied ever receiving any rejoinder from the complainant.

He contended that the story as reported was on Dr Gidisu who was being sought by the police because he was not registered with the Medical and Dental Council.

He said the story as published was a report from a press conference held by the Medical and Dental Council on the activities of Dr Gidisu as an unlicensed practitioner.

The NMC Committee, after its hearings, directed that the “Daily Guide erred in not identifying the persons in the photograph used in the story”.

It also said that “there was no follow up to the story which was used in the publication by Daily Guide”, and, therefore, called on the media house to retract the story and publish a rejoinder.

Dr Gyanteh was also directed not to use social media to malign or run any commentary on the reporter and the Daily Guide newspaper.