Media too partisan (Monday, Nov, 4, 2013 Pg 3)

The Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mr Mahama Ayariga, has advised media houses to empanel experts to discuss specialised subjects, instead of engaging social commentators and political actors who may not have deeper knowledge of the issues at stake.

He expressed worry at the increasing partisan nature of media discourse in which political opponents were usually pitched against one another.

Addressing the 18th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards in Accra on Saturday, Mr Ayariga urged the media to consider adequate coverage of developmental activities and provide an appropriate platform for the discussion of developmental issues.

“On a daily basis if you listen to our media, you’ll have the impression that there is an election next week, even though elections are three years away,” he said.

Celebrated on the theme, “Promoting Healthy Partnership and Fruitful Partnership in Governance: The Role of the Media”, the event was a moment to honour the country’s outstanding journalists.

While 20 journalists were rewarded for their work in 2012, five veteran journalists were honoured for their contribution to the growth of the GJA and journalism in Ghana.

A journalist with the country’s state broadcaster, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Mr Kingsley Obeng Kyereh, was the toast of the night. He won the coveted P.A.V. Ansah Journalist of the Year Award.

Mr Ayariga observed that while it was not wrong for the media to allow politics to dominate national discourse, it was important to give impetus to developmental issues.

In a speech that also touched on the need to ensure that Ghanaian journalists received specialised training to raise the bar in reportage, the minister noted with concern the poor conditions of service of journalists.

With growing public concern over the country’s broadcasting space in the absence of a broadcasting law, he said a draft broadcasting bill was before the Cabinet and would be submitted to Parliament for consideration and promulgation.

Tightened fists on information, especially by public office holders, means that the media’s quest to access information to perform their role in ensuring transparency and accountability is always a struggle for them.

Although the Right to Information Bill has been touted as the panacea to that challenge, civil society groups and members of the media have been complaining about the delay in the passage of the bill, which was initiated in 2010.

Mr Ayariga said the bill was now on the table in Parliament and would soon be given the needed attention.

Mr Ayariga, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, therefore, rallied his fellow MPs to pass the bill, saying, “I urge parliamentarians not to fear the passage of the bill but rather push it through the various stages and pass it into law to create the appropriate legal framework for accessing information.”

The GJA President, Dr Affail Monney, reiterated the call on the government to promulgate the long-awaited Broadcast Law to sanitise the electronic media landscape.

He also pledged the association’s commitment to improve conditions for journalists with a move to ensure that the GJA became a union with a collective bargaining power.

Recalling the performance of the media in the 2012 elections and during the Supreme Court petition, Dr Monney said the media fraternity could now “heave a sigh of relief and state with humility and pride that through our modest contribution, we helped to promote fairness, peace and understanding among other contestants”.