Foreign media mocks Ghana

Journalists ire... Oboshi`s mea culpa

Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie– Deputy Minister of Information & Nat. orientation Scores of journalists who thronged the precincts of the international conference centre to cover the ongoing African Union summit had a shock of their lives when they were denied entry into the main conference hall. With the exception of the news team of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation who were allowed entry into the main hall, the rest of the 556 accredited journalists who had traveled from far and near to cover the proceedings were kept behind closed doors.

Instead of being allowed entry into the conference hall, they were made to watch proceedings from a mini-screen placed at a makeshift media centre from where they were supposed to carry their reports.

Protocol officials said the decision not to allow journalists to enter the main venue was for security reasons. This was, however, after all accredited journalists had undergone rigorous security checks before being allowed into the precincts of the International Conference Centre.

Obviously not happy with the treatment meted out to them, the frustrated journalists started organized themselves to file a protest. In the process, they collated signatures to protest against the decision not to allow them into the main hall.

One Janet Narh from Ben TV in the United Kingdom collated the signatures, which yielded positive result as every journalist was prepared to append his signature to the resolution.

At various points, some members of the foreign media started making a mockery of Ghana as and when the screens from which they were observing proceedings went off within intervals.

They made uncomplimentary remarks about Ghana and African leaders since they could not comprehend why they were invited if they would not be allowed into the main hall to observe proceedings themselves and report from their own angles.

Suggestions were later made for journalists to boycott coverage of the event, thereby declaring a total blackout.

Machiaria Gaitho is with The Nation Media Group in Kenya and says, “if we knew this was what they were going to do, we could have watched it from our hotel rooms and wouldn’t waste time coming this far”.

Though he understands that not everybody could be allowed inside, considering the number, he said the organizers should have made arrangements for journalists who entered to provide materials for their colleagues.

What baffled him the most was that, he and his other colleagues from the foreign media had been asked to buy the footage from the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation at a price he described as exorbitant.

Gaitho said, he could barely hear anything from the footage of GBC, which sometimes had intermittent breakages in transmission. Dela Ahiawor, a local journalist, said he was not the least surprised since these things kept occurring every time such events were organized.

“The image has been carried already, but it’s a lesson for us and I think next time we have to put things in place to do a better organization.

Oboshie apologises

The Deputy Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mrs. Oboshie Sai -Cofie, on Sunday apologised for media glitches that left scores of journalists frustrated and cut out especially during the opening session of the African Union Summit at the Accra International Conference Centre.

“We apologise for not honouring our promise to allow 150 journalists to enter the mail hall,” she said at a press briefing shortly after the opening during which frustrated and angry journalists who had been forced to cover the events from GTV decided to send a petition to the AU and the Ghana government.

“Unfortunately, a lot of the heads of state came out with security concerns that allowed more (people) in and the hall was filled. We therefore had to rethink our strategy,” she said.

Mrs. Sai-Cofie said what they did was to do a back-up plan in which journalists were allowed in 10s.

She also noted that GTV went off air and said the state broadcaster explained that it was off air due to power problem.

On the confusion after the opening where security men refused to allow journalists to either get close to the Heads of State or even leave the Accra International Conference Centre, (AICC) Mrs. Sai Cofie explained that the security chief at the Conference Centre had been told that the journalists were intending to present a petition to the Heads of State and he took the decision to stop them from going close to the leaders.

“Unfortunately, some people only wanted to leave the centre,” she said, adding that the government was too media friendly to take an action like that. This was just a result of miscommunication, she said.

She announced that Mr. Fank Agyekum, Government Spokesman on Governance, Mr. Eugene Akrofi, Media Liaison Officer at the Ministry of Information and an AU official would be in charge of the situation.

Discussions are also ongoing to allow journalists into the lobby of the ICC.

The Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Akwasi Osei-Adjei, also apologized and said they were looking at the programme again.

Meanwhile, conspicuously absent from the opening of the Summit was the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Colonel Gaddafi, a strong advocate of the African Union, arrived in Accra on Saturday by road and called on AU Chairman, President John Agyekum Kufuor, but he was absent from opening session.