THE GHANAIAN MEDIA AND THE FUTURE OF GHANA

By Mawutodzi Kodzo Abissath

Daily Graphic Thursday, August 18, 2005

HAVE you realised that the wisdom of African ancestors is beyond compare? This is reflected in their ever green proverbs which modern scholars are wont to quote and unquote. Listen to this Ghanaian one: "If you cut your own tongue and chew it up, you've not eaten any meat".

This is lucid, isn't it? One may be tempted to ask: "Which school did our ancestors attend to acquire such insightful knowledge and wisdom?" 

And are modern educated Africans creating new proverbs for posterity to quote? I leave the answers to the meditation of the reader. But I will postulate that if the Ghanaian media set a negative agenda for Ghanaians to use for self-destruction, there will be no Ghana to build as a nation. I will explain presently.

Records show that media work, or journalism in Ghana started in 1822 in Cape Coast.

That was when General Sir Charles McCarthy, the first colonial governor of the then Gold Coast landed in Cape Coast on March 27, that year and within a few days launched an official paper, called the Royal Gold Coast Gazette. (Those who have value for historical facts can read the rest of this story in a book titled : A Summary History of the GHANA PRESS, written by Mr K. A. B. Jones-Quartey, one time of the Institute of Adult Education, University of Ghana, Legon, published by the Information Services Department in 19740).

Based on the preceding fact, therefore, the Ghanaian media, born in 1822 up to today 2005, over 200 years of existence, cannot be described as a neophyte or amateur. And the contribution of the media in Ghana to freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of association and all the freedoms one can think of including, the fight for self-rule, culminating in independence in 1957, cannot be quantified in real terms & a matter of fact, some of the experiences the Ghanaian media went through after independence were even more traumatic than during the colonial era.

At some stage of military and civilian rules, for instance, the Ghanaian media operated under some of the most abhorrent laws under the sun. One of such Laws was the 'late' Criminal Libel Law, which 'died' in 2001, and the obituary of which we are celebrating today with fanfare.

In fact, at some point in the media history of this country, media practitioners were treated like common criminals. For any small human error they committed, or were' suspected to have committed, even without proof in a competent court of law, they were bundled and dumped in jail like accursed armed robbers.

This writer had his own share of that intolerance and absolute display of misplaced power of authority in May 1999.That was even during a civilian rule, so he knows what he is talking about. It was sad indeed! Such a situation did not allow cross fertilisation of ideas.

It did not permit citizens to exchange divergent views so as to arrive at consensus for nation building. That is not how other nations are moving from the ground into the orbit and back with smiles.

Having said all that it is prudent to sound a note of caution to the Ghanaian media, too.

Remember this African proverb which admonishes that, "If you cry for your chicken, you must cry for the hawk, too." To be frank and blunt, the way some Ghanaian media practitioners are operating today is totally unacceptable as far as professionalism goes.

Observers are worried that even though the Ghanaian media are doing tremendous work for the growth of democracy and good governance in the country, 'some of their actions tend to be causing more harm than good to the image of Ghana, especially on the Internet. It appears some media practitioners take delight in fishing out only negative things to project to the world whilst turning a blind eye to some of the good things the nation is accruing, no matter how modest they may be.

One of the consequences of such negativity is the recent heavy fines being imposed on some media houses by the courts in the country. This is very unfortunate. If care is not taken the media may drive the ship of state straight into a ditch. This will be because the ethics of the profession have been thrown to swines.

In April 1994, the media in Rwanda were reported to have been accused of being the initiators of that nation's genocide. The outcome was that over half a million souls perished in a twinkle of an eye. We in Ghana should not pretend to be angels. We are human beings, and as such, we are treading in the forest of errors.

When our fellow human beings commit errors, we must have the courage to correct them and tolerate them. But it is important for the offenders also to be humble enough to admit their shortcomings and offer apologies. When that is done we must move ahead with our development strategies as a nation. After all, perfection is not attained in one incarnation. We must be prepared to agree to disagree as a people.

It has been observed that for a few years now, the nation has been moving from the culture of silence to the culture of negativity. And it is unfortunate that it is the media that seem to be setting this agenda and the entire society is being led into a bottomless pit of negative thinking, negative talking and negative actions. The situation has not been helped by the mush-rooming of Frequency Modulation (FM) radio stations here and there.

It is indisputable the radio stations in Ghana are making a great deal of impact on the development of the nation in terms of dissemination of information for citizens to know what is happening and how they can contribute their views and ideas to issues of national interest. The impact is even more enormous when the platform is created for listeners to express themselves in their own language. It has been a wonderful experience with the phone-in-programmes.

But, this is exactly where the worse problem of negativity is originating from. A radio presenter or a host of a programme introduces a topic, and some people who do not understand or know the first letter of that topic pick up their telephones, call into the programme and start contributing out of context. If the host of that particular programme himself or herself is not on top of the issue at stake, callers are allowed not only to display their ignorance, but also encouraged to slander, castigate and even assassinate the character of innocent people.

This happens often if the topic in question has a semblance of political discussions. In fact, some callers may deliberately want to vent their spleen on their perceived opponents for the sake of it. They normally have a way of saying and chanting all kinds of unprintable words and go scot-free, without any apologies for the shame they deserve.

This is not good enough, especially if the perceived political opponent is not in the studio or on the other side of the line to respond. This is where professionalism in broadcast journalism is called for. If the media practitioner on duty does not know how to cut off or call that particular caller to order, the seed of animosity, which is sown is not limited only to the caller and the personality concerned.

The party members of that imaginary opponent, his relatives and all sympathisers who will be listening in to that particular programme at the material time become involved. This is how, the entire society is being poisoned like a well of water. The psychological result is that everybody's mind is being poisoned against one another.

Eventually, the collective mind of the nation is programmed as the head of a poisonous snake. Then the people begin to develop the tendencies of "BITE ME, I BITE YOU". Ghana is greater than any individual or personality, be it a media man or woman, politician, or ordinary citizen in the street.

In May 1994, on the occasion of that year's Press Freedom Day, Mr Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, called on media men and women throughout the world to practise what he termed as "Preventive Journalism." He was making reference to what happened in Rwanda the previous month and then pointed out that the genocide in that country could have been prevented if Rwandan journalists had engaged in preventive journalism rather than one of hatred.

This writer would like to add his voice to that of the UN boss and appeal to the Ghanaian media to practise a kind of journalism that will guarantee the future socio-economic, political and cultural survival of Ghana. Let's say NO to hatred journalism in Ghana. Anybody with any idea to transform Ghana from the current culture of negativity to a culture of positivity should e-mail me.

The author works with Information Services Department (ISD) abissath@gmail.com

NB: This article was first published by the Daily Graphic Thursday, August 18, 2015.