Media in Ghana caused NDC‘s defeat in 2016 Election - Dr. Clement Apaak

A former Presidential staffer under the erstwhile Mahama administration and now Member of Parliament (MP) for the Builsa South constituency in the Upper East Region has partly blamed the media in Ghana for the heavy defeat of John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress in the 2016 general elections, MyNewsGh.com reports.

Dr. Apaak believes the media in Ghana have in several years past pushed the agenda of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) either in or out of government.

Speaking in an interview on The PM Show on Bolgatanga based YEM Radio monitored by MyNewsGh.com, the lawmaker said he cannot fathom why the media has shown little interest in taking on the Nana Addo led administration over several acts of corruption in barely two years.

According to him, the media is doing a great disservice to the country with its bias towards one party.

“They (NPP) have been louder than us and it has always been the case. We have always known this. It’s not about being in government but it’s about whose case the media find more attractive and pushes. When we were in power, all the allegations that were made against us media men never asked the NPP to provide evidence. Today if you state a matter of fact as I have indicated on a few issues, the media guy would ask me to provide evidence. It is obvious the media contributed to our defeat and I think that collectively the media needs to do a better job by being fair and even handed” he said.

While citing instances of allegations of corruption under the current government, the lawmaker added that the seeming silence and show of little interest by the media is in sharp contrast with the reaction and posture of same media under the governance of the National Democratic Congress.

He added “journalists have an interest, they have an agenda. They know how to steer information and to present it in a way that would let an entity look good or bad. If you go back and do your research, you would notice there is a clear difference between the way the media projects what occurs within the context of NPP and that of NDC”



Though he cannot point to reasons for the soft spot towards the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Apaak stated that there is the possibility of the now governing party juicing media men in Ghana.