TODAY, we have decided to devote this column to an issue that many of our readers will consider as very unusual of the DAILY GRAPHIC.
For some time now, our newspapers and their management and staff have been subjected to public ridicule and opprobrium just because certain people disagree with our position on a number of issues.
A story on the front page of today’s paper and other publications in recent times are cases in point.
Those who engage us in this polemics do so out of context and without due regard for the basic tenets of good journalism of being fair, accurate and balanced. For all we know, journalism, no matter what position or cause one decides to support, must serve the public good.
The moment journalism decides to serve parochial interest, it loses its power to provide the voice for the voiceless, and hold public office holders accountable for their actions.
The very ordinary people in the society can hardly contest that the DAILY GRAPHIC and its sister papers represent the best in journalism practice in the country.
In serving our society with a diverse background, including the Executive, the Legislature, Judiciary, minority parties, civil society groups and, indeed, ordinary people on the street, we may not be able to satisfy everybody even as we do our best to discharge our duties with a clear conscience in the service of our motherland.
Unfortunately, some of our media colleagues and other personalities in the society want to draw the Graphic into conflict with the powers that be, especially the Executive, claiming that the newspaper has taken a position against the Government's Better Ghana Agenda.
From our humble point of view, the content analysis of the DAILY GRAPHIC and its sister papers indicates strongly that the papers are in the forefront of telling the government's good stories to the public.
But since the media's role also includes providing the feedback to policy makers, the DAILY GRAPHIC, as mandated by the Constitution, also strives to provide alternative views on issues concerning the governance of the state.
Anybody who frowns on the basic functions of the media may not be doing the government any good, because the impression is then created that nobody else has anything to offer towards nation-building although we know that “the path maker does not know where he has gone crooked”.
We have kept our distance from this subject because we do not want to engage in a media war which we find counter-productive. This deviates from the norms of journalism and places media practitioners in front of cameras and microphones instead of creating the space for our leaders to take such a platform to tell the electorate how they are managing the resources of state to improve their well-being.
We want to restate our position as we did last Saturday to mark our 60th anniversary that we will continue to use the columns of our national newspapers to build national consensus and unity so that together, the dividends of democracy, which includes peace, stability and security, which we have enjoyed over the last 18 years, will benefit all of us.
We are open to criticism; indeed as a policy, we do not discount the opinions of those we disagree with but we certainly detest those who descend into the gutters, practise yellow journalism to smear us.
On this occasion, we make one solemn pledge to the government and the people of Ghana: That we shall never use the power at our disposal to rock the ship of state. We will support the government in all its endeavours, praise where praise is due and encourage it to stay focused on its Better Ghana Agenda. We will, however, not hesitate to draw the attention of the government when it deviates from the national goal.
This is our pledge. And we promise to uphold it within the confines of our mandate.
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