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Say no to inhumane journalism

Journalists Not Gossips A photo of media persons

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 Source: Musah Abdul Razak Churchill

As the fourth estate of government,the media is extremely pivotal in the controlling the affairs of the country,Ghana to be precise.

This has made a lot of schools and media houses to be established to train journalists and to disseminate information.Kudos.

Some everyday citizens have also devoted their time to help facilitate the dissemination of information.Kudos to such citizens.

These citizens need not attend any media school to be trained.All they need is a smartphone with a quality camera,a data and a good network.Funny right?After getting these 'tools',with just a click,they can disseminate information at a faster speed more than a trained journalist can even do.Alas!Are these everyday citizens humane?Are their actions beneficial to their fellow citizens and the country at large?

As tiring as the day was,my friends and I visited a nearby spot to release tension by way of entertainment.In fact the evening was rather splendid.

On our way home, we got to a place where a youngster was lying in a pool of blood.Curious,we got to know that a motorbike and a tricycle had collided.Not much injured,the rider had mounted his motorbike and left leaving the tricyclist on the ground in agony.

To our surprise,a lot of people were at the scene but no one could give a helping hand to the dying youngster.

Instead,they were snapping pictures of the boy and scene posting them on their social media platforms.

I shook my head in annoyance as tears begun to well down.With the support of my friends,we boarded a taxi and sent the boy to the hospital.

Being an essential case,the doctors together with the nurses hurriedly attended to the boy as we stood outside waiting for what happens next.

After some minutes,the doctor came to us in dismay and all that he said was 'it would have been better if he was brought earlier'.We weren't okay with what he said so we told him to explain himself.Avoiding circumlocution,he told us that the youngster had died.Hmmmmm.Very pathetic it is.

If the 'journalists' on the street had offered to give a helping hand,the youngster wouldn't have died.

Disseminating information or assisting journalists is not a bad thing,but let us do it in a humane way.

Say no to inhumane journalism!

Columnist: Musah Abdul Razak Churchill