'Abrokyire’ Palaver: Journalism 101

This week marks a very important one for all Ghanaians as we go to the polls at the weekend to elect our president and legislators. A lot has been said and done in the political campaign period just as a lot has gone under the stroke of the pen and the tongue as journalists contribute to our democratic experience.

After all that we have said and debated on the airwaves and in our newspapers this is one week where all journalists would have to go back to Journalism 101 and learn about responsible journalism.

What went down as an apology of journalism culminating in the situation which we all now refer to as the Rwandan genocide is still too fresh to be pushed under the carpet. One radio station’s irresponsibility and its fire-spitting remarks resulted in the death of hundreds of people.

Interestingly I am among the optimists who believe that Ghana is never going to get to that situation but then I also find a lot of wisdom in what our elders say that “when you find your friend’s beard on fire you better put water near yours”. Situations that have happened in other countries are all reminders of what our irresponsibility as journalists can lead to.

Agreeably, it is far-fetched to attribute the outbreak of hostilities especially in elections to the work of the media as research shows but it there is abundance of evidence to show that journalists contribute largely to such situations and so are equally liable for allowing themselves to serve as propagandists and hate messengers of a few selfish politicians who are all too ready and willing to sell their kith and kin for a tin of sardine.

It is in the light of this that I recommend the Ghana Journalists Association for taking steps to educate journalists on what is expected of us in this elections but that point unfortunately also marks my point of departure with my very respected and knowledgeable senior colleague Yaw Boadu Ayeeboafo who was reported as encouraging journalists to ensure equal coverage for all political parties. I am hoping that that was not the thrust of his intervention.

The issue of equality is important but with a week to the elections, this is not the time to advocate for equity. What journalists need is for you to tell them to act responsibly and stop ‘talking by heart’ when the people entrust them with their ears and eyes.

Some of us are just irresponsible and only think of what we can do to promote a candidate who will win and shower us with more favors and more ‘soli’. Sometimes I simply shudder at the thought of how journalism is being redefined by certain practitioners who see any calls for responsible journalism as an attempt to gag them.

I believe that one can make a point without the unnecessary emotional outbursts that follow and add up to an already tensed political situation. As journalists we need to admit that we are human beings who sometimes get things wrong so that instead of fighting to justify our positions, let us lend ourselves to learning the right thing from the right people and infest our audiences with a sense of responsibility in word and deed.

We are all too quick to point at the international media and accuse them of putting out a negative image about Africa, of which we as Ghanaians are an integral part. True, but what are we also doing as journalists to challenge those perceptions put out there when all we spend our time doing is bickering and spewing hate messages and fighting for political favors.

To all those journalists who have kept the standards of responsible journalism high, I cannot but express my admiration for your work and for the rotten eggs among the lot please spare the country in this critical period. We have done it before and we can do it again, let the world see what Ghanaian journalists are capable of achieving in these elections.

As we keep our fingers crossed and pray for a successful election 2008 I am reminded of an article I read in a journal by an African nun in Ireland who in expressing her outrage about the negative image of Africa painted by the western media was told by her friend, “if there is another Africa then let us see it” and I know that Ghana will show the world that there is another Africa which is capable of conducting peaceful elections that are free, fair and smooth.

Dot Asare-Kumah [dortt4u@yahoo.com]