PROMOTING NATIONAL UNITY (THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2009)

A DEPUTY Minister of Education, Mr Joseph Annan, on Tuesday urged journalists to use the power of the media to foster unity among Ghanaians and shy away from tendencies that might polarise the country.
Launching the 50th anniversary of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), he said “the media must be used to assist our development efforts” and challenged all stakeholders to adopt a transformational shift to the pressing needs and aspirations of the country.
Our Constitution recognises the power and importance of the media, for which reason a whole chapter is devoted to the Freedom and Independence of the Media.
The present level of Ghana’s development, especially our democratic credentials as a fledgling democracy, can be largely attributed to the role of the media.
Sometimes media freedom and the extent to which the frontiers of media freedom are stretched call for worry among sections of our society.
The media industry is like the proverbial “santrofi” bird — if you leave it you miss a fortune, but if you take it you carry a curse.
To some sections of society, media practitioners have become a big nuisance, prying into people’s private affairs, while others think that if the media fail to give voice to the voiceless and do not uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people of Ghana, we cannot continue with our present level of development.
When the attention of freedom lovers are drawn to the excesses of the media, they remind those who feel uncomfortable with the present level of media freedom to compare that to the days of the culture of silence and determine which of the two scenarios is desirable.
However, it is important to remind journalists that it is no longer acceptable for them and public officials to be in an adversarial relationship.
Journalists are required to walk the tight balance of exercising their freedom in order to hold public officials accountable for their actions, while supporting the government’s development agenda.
The media landscape has expanded in leaps and bounds and as the government takes steps to enact the Freedom of Information Bill and the Broadcasting Law, journalists will reciprocate these gestures by exercising media freedom with responsibility.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, calls on the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to intensify their continuing educational programmes and help to promote higher journalistic standards in the country.
We are worried about the future of media freedom in the country, in the light of the recklessness on the part of some journalists in the performance of their duties.
If this trend is not checked, the whole society can gang up to lobby lawmakers to curtail media freedom.
The DAILY GRAPHIC acknowledges the power of the media in promoting democracy, human rights and sustainable development, but the media can be relevant if media practitioners respect ethical values in order to promote national integration and cohesion.