Stop social media mudslinging - Mahama

President John Mahama has condemned the use of social media to denigrate the person of political opponents, a situation he recently suffered.

“We find today in our media, the use of insulting language, the display of obscenities in the visual and electronic media and most recently, the misuse of social media and computer graphics”, Mr. Mahama observed.

President Mahama bewailed the “tendency to stretch media freedom beyond reasonable limits”, which he says has led to “unethical practice, unnecessary speculation, wild allegations, mudslinging and sensationalism”.

He said: “It is true that chapter 12 guarantees freedoms and independence of the media but it also imposes responsibilities to be fair, balanced and accurate”.

Mr. Mahama hit at the media when he delivered the keynote address on Friday, at the launch of the re-designed national newspaper, Daily Graphic.

The president’s concerns about the misuse of social media come on the heels of a recent case, in which a picture of a man caught having sex with a woman in an office, was doctored and posted on Facebook, to portray him (Mr. Mahama) as the one in the nude picture.

Ghana’s Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) arrested a staunch member of the main opposition New Patriotic Party, NPP, Michael Omari Wadie in connection with the post.

Mr. Omari Wadie admitted posting the picture on his Facebook wall but denied being its originator.

Mr. Omari Wadie reportedly spoke to Radio Gold on Wednesday May 22, 2013 and admitted posting the picture on his Facebook wall.