Journalists urged to respect ethics of profession
Speakers at a public forum in Accra have urged journalists to respect the ethics of their profession by shunning external influences and publishing only the truth.
They said it was only through ethical behaviour that journalists could contribute effectively to national development and earn the respect and dignity of society.
The Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Dr Doris Dartey; the Director of Newspapers of the GCGL, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, and the Queenmother of Efutu and Krontihemaa of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Nana Amba Eyiaba I, made the call at a roundtable on media ethics and transparency in frequency allocation in Accra.
The event was organised by the GCGL, in collaboration with STAR-Ghana, and attended by managers of media organisations, editors, reporters and students.
Chairperson
Dr Dartey said intra-personal and interpersonal ethics of individuals guided their ethical behaviour in their chosen fields.
"Whatever ethics you have as a person are what you will bring to your profession," she said.
She wondered why some journalists should receive laptops bought with money for the capacity development of journalists from the Ministry of Information.
She said both the Ministry of Information and journalists behaved unethically in that transaction.
On radio frequencies, Dr Dartey called for transparency in their allocation by the National Communications Authority (NCA).
She said the current system allowed the NCA to allocate the frequencies to political cronies.
"They allocate them to NDC and NPP cronies. So we end up with NPP and NDC stations," she said.
Do the right thing
For his part, Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh underscored the need for media practitioners to be ethical and do their work well, "not because somebody wants us to do the work".
He said journalists should be willing to do what was right, "so that if you do not get the mental reward, you can get it in another form".
He asked the NCA to inform Ghanaians about how frequencies were allocated.
He said since frequencies were a national resource, "we should know how they are being used".
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh said the African Charter on Broadcasting was drawn up in 2002 and expressed surprise as to why Ghana did not have any regulation on frequency allocation.
He said workers at the NCA should know that they were working for the whole nation, not for some groups.
He asked owners of radio frequencies to work within the ethics of the journalism profession, saying it was wrong for the people to own the frequencies and do what they wanted with them.
Nana Eyiaba
For her part, Nana Eyiaba said the media played a crucial role in holding public officials accountable and indicated that the state should not put any impediments in the way of the media.
She urged the media not to do anything that would court legislative restrictions.
Nana Eyiaba said sometimes the media published sheer fabrications to tarnish people's image.
"Sometimes the things journalists say on air when they have the privilege to be part of a discussion are simply not edifying.
"Sometimes you see clear pornography on front pages of newspapers and you wonder whether the papers thought for a moment how those things offend public sensibilities," she said.
