The future of a country's democracy linked with the growth of the Media

Accra, Dec 23, GNA - Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, President of the Ghana Journalists Association, on Tuesday said the future of the country's democracy was directly linked to the growth and conduct of its media. Ms Yeboah-Afari, who was speaking at the launch of a report on:

"The State Of The Media, Ten Years of Constitutional Rule-Challenges of the Ghanaian Media" in Accra, said the initial euphoria over the liberal environment that the 1992 Constitution provided the Media practice was beginning to fade.

In its place, there were greater demands for more professionalism and responsibility from the Media, she said, adding that this had been heightened by the growing realisation among the Ghanaian populace that the Media could play a critical role in the promotion of public accountability, the determination of public opinion and cultivating national well-being.

The book is the outcome of a workshop held in Swedru by the GJA. It aimed at providing Media Practitioners with the platform to formally assess their performance and identify the relevant challenges after a decade of a liberalised Media environment.

She noted that it was only when the Media was seen to be striving to attain higher standards without being prompted that they could count on public confidence and continued goodwill.

She said, however, that as things stood, much as the society acknowledged the dynamic and progressive role the Media had played in the country's journey to democracy nobody could pretend that all was well with the profession.

"Unfortunately we are found wanting in many respects. By this I am referring to all the values that it takes to make good media practice: Level of professionalism, the degree of social responsibility, respect for ethics and last but not the least the quality of production and organisation."

She said since the Swedru workshop, there had been many important developments on the Media front, noting, the Journalist of the Year and the election of the GJA president controversies and the ongoing debate on the Right to Information.

Ms Yeboah-Afari, however, described the controversies as healthy developments that had helped the GJA to grow.

She decried the creeping in of the culture of insults or the use of inflammatory language, saying "the tendency to use insults in our discourse seems to have gradually taken roots and it is very strange because it is neither part of the Ghanaian culture nor what is taught in Journalism schools anywhere in the world".

She said the irony was that people who at home dared not even call the name of their own sister or brother, who was only a year older without a respectful prefix, felt they could insult public office holders at will.

She also expressed concern on the growing number of obscene material on the newsstand, adding, that it was sad that some weekend papers, that were supposed to be for general family reading had so lost direction that they had resorted to publishing material that could only be described as pornographic, all in the name of press freedom.

"Is this the freedom for which we fought? For which some have lost their lives? For which some were imprisoned? Some went into exile and others suffered all sorts of degradation and losses?"

She said the GJA Executive would continue to consult the Inspector General of Police to find ways of dealing with the situation. She said "the danger we face is that if we do not exercise our freedom responsibly, society may be compelled to find unpleasant ways of making us do so" and urged the Media, both print and electronic, to join hands in that effort "as our collective Christmas and New Year gifts to the nation and as our contribution to peace building in Ghana ahead of the 2004 Elections".

Ms Yeboah Afari expressed the hope that the contents of the book would be of interest to the Media Commission, Government, Media Training Institutions, Management of Media Houses, academia, business and civil society organisations.

Mr George Mac Badji, Executive Secretary of National Media Commission, said the media was a friend and a foe and asked if media practitioners of today could say that their practice truly reflected the society of today when there was great cloud of sensationalism and unfair agenda setting, wanton disregard for professionalism, insensitivity towards gender issues and the vulnerable in society.

He said there was great wanton disregard for GJA's code of ethics and abundant evidence of the use of the Media as proxy for settling personal scores, especially by politicians.

He said responsible Media was one of the essential paraphernalia of good governance and that every single effort should be made to position the Media strategically to execute their constitutionally mandated obligation.