In the first version of this article that appeared in the 17th January, 2008 edition of The Chronicle, the 21st January publication of the Ghanaweb, the 23rd-24th January edition of The Enquirer, in The Ghanaian Journal, at www.zibb.com and other media, we incontestably illustrated that hypocrisy (acts of insincerity and pretence) is truly the greatest killer in the Ghanaian society today. That we paint the picture that we are saints but we do worst things than those that we are persistently criticizing.We examined the police service, the justice system, our leaders and the political system and the attitude of the citizenry to establish the above demanding issue. Today, we are going to scrutinise the media, teachers and lecturers and of course, our heath officials.
The Ghanaian media (both the electronic and print) continues to receive legitimate and very nerve-racking allegations from members of the public. That the media is culpable of lack of factual and objective reporting, crocodile analysis, bias, misleading headlines, publication of some wanton horrific pictures, lack of quality reporting, over- sensationalism (yellow journalism), media dictatorship and censorship and so forth. Of course there has been a remarkable improvement in the Ghanaian media since 1980s. Notwithstanding, the above allegations are no less what is actually happening in our media landscape. It is very hypocritical for the media to always lament about the worsening indiscipline, especially the increasingly sexual abuse, if it at the same time publishes unnecessary horrendous pictures. Besides, the misleading headlines and over-sensationalism sometimes throw needless tension among some members of the public, meanwhile the media is always criticising some of our politicians for making inflammatory remarks, passionate statements and beating war drums. What moral justification does the media have to guarantee fairness if it is blameworthy for being unreceptive and bias on certain pertinent issues, poor reporting and unsubstantiated analyse? Sometimes some of our media houses tend to know the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.
The media profession is irrefutably the worse abuser of intellectual property rights in Ghana. Hypocritically, it is always lamenting that the Ghanaian music and film industries are collapsing. Not only does the media uses the creative works of some creators unlawfully, but also swindle the same creators of arts by compelling them to pay ‘payola or solidarity fee’ before any of their creative works could be publicised. Is this not hypocrisy? These no doubt kill creativity since such creators of works tend to gain nothing out of their ingenuity. In every civilised nation, before one could publicly perform any creative work, the originator of that art has to be paid what is due him.
Lastly, some reportage by the media stupefies its quest of ensuring fairness and rule of law in the Ghanaian society. Most often than not, the media at the same time accuses, prosecutes, judges and convicts suspected criminals through the manner at which it carries out publications about some suspected criminals. These aberrant publications paint the picture that the supposed criminals are already guilty until proven innocent. Disingenuously, the media tends to always condemn the upsurge of mob action in the country. In so doing, it shifts much of the blame on the justice system while refusing to remove the plank in its eyes. This is supreme hypocrisy! In my forthright opinion, the media was very hasty for granting live interviews to the so-called ‘sex commercial workers’ prior to the kick off of the Ghana (CAN) 2008 while it was very conscious that prostitution and for that matter acts of public sexual solicitation is a criminal offence in this country. The media no doubt plays double-standards if it turns to blame others for the deterioration and lack of respect for our moral values.
However, I must indicate here that the Ghana Journalist Association (CJA) needs to be commended for the various steps it is taking to curb some of the above menaces since the latter part of 2007. It therefore goes without saying that the National Media Commission (NMC), the CJA and similar bodies should be resolute in their bid to build a system that promote honesty, integrity and decency in the media profession for the betterment of our socio-economic development.
From my personal experience, some teachers do have sexual connections with some of their female students. Besides, scores of them despise the supposedly dull students and sacrifice the future of these students in the pursuit of their parochial interest. Appallingly, some teachers assist some students to hoodwink (dupe) their parents either by presenting false bills or terminal/semester report to them. During my high school days, I repeatedly witness situations where some account clerks colluded with some students to share their school fees. Shockingly, those students were never sacked for owing school fees, even after completion. These menaces are very common in most of our public institutions. Henry Brooks, an English novelist and dramatist, hit the bullet by saying that ‘public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality.’ Interestingly, some of these same teachers blame parents for failing to raise their children in an acceptable manner, hence the gross indiscipline and moral decay among the youth. Indeed this is utmost hypocrisy. Why should such teachers be so surprised if they later get to know that the student whose virginity they broke is promiscuous or a student they assisted to cheat the parent is now a thief or robber? Truly, the so-called bad students are the products of yesterday. According to Aristotle, we become what we repeatedly do. It could therefore be concluded that our youth are the product of the training we gave them in the recent past.
In addition, majority of our health workers, especially those at the lower rank are very unreceptive. Their facial expression and utterances alone propel most of our dear patients to the grave. It is dreadfully hypocritical to be bragging that we do promote the health of our patients while our needless strike actions thrust countless of them into the graveyard. Do we take pleasure in materialism over the lives of our people? It is widely known that people are more important than possessions, principles are more important than power and service is more important than success. Do not let us stop thinking about the fact that service to humanity is service to God and that money is not everything.
In the first version of this article that appeared in the 17th January, 2008 edition of The Chronicle, the 21st January publication of the Ghanaweb, the 23rd-24th January edition of The Enquirer, in The Ghanaian Journal, at www.zibb.com and other media, we incontestably illustrated that hypocrisy (acts of insincerity and pretence) is truly the greatest killer in the Ghanaian society today. That we paint the picture that we are saints but we do worst things than those that we are persistently criticizing.We examined the police service, the justice system, our leaders and the political system and the attitude of the citizenry to establish the above demanding issue. Today, we are going to scrutinise the media, teachers and lecturers and of course, our heath officials.
The Ghanaian media (both the electronic and print) continues to receive legitimate and very nerve-racking allegations from members of the public. That the media is culpable of lack of factual and objective reporting, crocodile analysis, bias, misleading headlines, publication of some wanton horrific pictures, lack of quality reporting, over- sensationalism (yellow journalism), media dictatorship and censorship and so forth. Of course there has been a remarkable improvement in the Ghanaian media since 1980s. Notwithstanding, the above allegations are no less what is actually happening in our media landscape. It is very hypocritical for the media to always lament about the worsening indiscipline, especially the increasingly sexual abuse, if it at the same time publishes unnecessary horrendous pictures. Besides, the misleading headlines and over-sensationalism sometimes throw needless tension among some members of the public, meanwhile the media is always criticising some of our politicians for making inflammatory remarks, passionate statements and beating war drums. What moral justification does the media have to guarantee fairness if it is blameworthy for being unreceptive and bias on certain pertinent issues, poor reporting and unsubstantiated analyse? Sometimes some of our media houses tend to know the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.
The media profession is irrefutably the worse abuser of intellectual property rights in Ghana. Hypocritically, it is always lamenting that the Ghanaian music and film industries are collapsing. Not only does the media uses the creative works of some creators unlawfully, but also swindle the same creators of arts by compelling them to pay ‘payola or solidarity fee’ before any of their creative works could be publicised. Is this not hypocrisy? These no doubt kill creativity since such creators of works tend to gain nothing out of their ingenuity. In every civilised nation, before one could publicly perform any creative work, the originator of that art has to be paid what is due him.
Lastly, some reportage by the media stupefies its quest of ensuring fairness and rule of law in the Ghanaian society. Most often than not, the media at the same time accuses, prosecutes, judges and convicts suspected criminals through the manner at which it carries out publications about some suspected criminals. These aberrant publications paint the picture that the supposed criminals are already guilty until proven innocent. Disingenuously, the media tends to always condemn the upsurge of mob action in the country. In so doing, it shifts much of the blame on the justice system while refusing to remove the plank in its eyes. This is supreme hypocrisy! In my forthright opinion, the media was very hasty for granting live interviews to the so-called ‘sex commercial workers’ prior to the kick off of the Ghana (CAN) 2008 while it was very conscious that prostitution and for that matter acts of public sexual solicitation is a criminal offence in this country. The media no doubt plays double-standards if it turns to blame others for the deterioration and lack of respect for our moral values.
However, I must indicate here that the Ghana Journalist Association (CJA) needs to be commended for the various steps it is taking to curb some of the above menaces since the latter part of 2007. It therefore goes without saying that the National Media Commission (NMC), the CJA and similar bodies should be resolute in their bid to build a system that promote honesty, integrity and decency in the media profession for the betterment of our socio-economic development.
From my personal experience, some teachers do have sexual connections with some of their female students. Besides, scores of them despise the supposedly dull students and sacrifice the future of these students in the pursuit of their parochial interest. Appallingly, some teachers assist some students to hoodwink (dupe) their parents either by presenting false bills or terminal/semester report to them. During my high school days, I repeatedly witness situations where some account clerks colluded with some students to share their school fees. Shockingly, those students were never sacked for owing school fees, even after completion. These menaces are very common in most of our public institutions. Henry Brooks, an English novelist and dramatist, hit the bullet by saying that ‘public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality.’ Interestingly, some of these same teachers blame parents for failing to raise their children in an acceptable manner, hence the gross indiscipline and moral decay among the youth. Indeed this is utmost hypocrisy. Why should such teachers be so surprised if they later get to know that the student whose virginity they broke is promiscuous or a student they assisted to cheat the parent is now a thief or robber? Truly, the so-called bad students are the products of yesterday. According to Aristotle, we become what we repeatedly do. It could therefore be concluded that our youth are the product of the training we gave them in the recent past.
In addition, majority of our health workers, especially those at the lower rank are very unreceptive. Their facial expression and utterances alone propel most of our dear patients to the grave. It is dreadfully hypocritical to be bragging that we do promote the health of our patients while our needless strike actions thrust countless of them into the graveyard. Do we take pleasure in materialism over the lives of our people? It is widely known that people are more important than possessions, principles are more important than power and service is more important than success. Do not let us stop thinking about the fact that service to humanity is service to God and that money is not everything.
Copyright © 1994 - 2024 GhanaWeb. All rights reserved.
