OPINION: Media not above reproach

The media is a very important institution in every society, but media practitioners shouldn't be deluded by their egos to think that they are above criticism and that any other person or institution is at their mercy.

Honestly, I don't support the idea of people beating up media persons or verbally abusing them for making certain comments in the course of their work but I wouldn't also shudder to say that some media people cause their own dangers.

Some media practitioners think that because of the work they do, other people should automatically respond to them as they wish.

If they approach you for an interview, they expect that you talk even if you don't want to. In fact, it is not compulsory for anybody to grant any media person an interview.

And the thing is, even if one is unwilling to grant an interview, the media man or woman doesn't need to go hard on them as if they are under duress to talk.

They should employ some tact or interview skills rather cajole their interviewees to respond to their interviews. But I know some media people whose egos wouldn't allow them to go about their interviews in this manner.

Honestly, some of my colleague media persons (I hope I am not of them) simply don't know how to talk. They have the penchant to talk and write a load of twaddle about people, without thinking about their emotions and reputations.

They think because they write for a newspaper, appear on television or speak on radio, they are more human than anyone else. But that is not true.

We may all have fallen prey to this idiosyncrasy of the modern day journalist, but the truth is that some of these trenchant styles of journalism are what expose us to the beatings.

There are rules governing every profession, and it is when people begin to flout these rules that they encounter so many problems.

If you go on air to insult people, to take sides while moderating a show, there is the likelihood that someone may not be happy with you and what becomes of you next, is your own problem.

The gospel truth is that whenever any of our colleagues is either beaten or verbally assaulted, we also should realize that, it is one of the exigencies and occupational hazards of our job, but the bottom line is, we can avoid some of these attacks if we really want to.

Never will I condone attacks on journalists like what was done to Mr. Kenu of the Daily Graphic and Afia Pokua of Adom FM few weeks ago but we also need to advise each other to be cautious of how we relate to the ordinary person out there while we do our journalistic work.

To me, it is a typical cause and effect phenomenon, and one shouldn't expect that everybody would take things kindly when it is against their personality or hard earned reputation.

We can talk about using the law to scare people from attacking journalists, but the fact is that some people are born naturally violent, and no matter what punishment is meted out to them they would remain so. So once you step on their toes, you bear the consequences.

The media practitioner of today takes so many things for granted. We need to go back to the ethics of the profession that we have jettisoned.

Some of these ethics, when flouted have benign consequences, but there are those whose repercussions are very deadly, and that is why it is imperative to hold those close to our chests.

Let's learn to ask the right questions. Let's learn to respect the people we deal with – respect their views and opinions and not the other way round. Report a news item without any embellishment whatsoever.

Try not to provoke your interviewee by sounding emotional and personal with your questions. More importantly, let's be objective even if our work seeks to criticize people.

Of course, we cannot please everybody but we know what the right thing to do is. Let's not overstep our boundaries!