Media must shun politics - Badu Akosa

A leading member of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Professor Agyemang Badu Akosa, has given support to President Mahama’s call on media practitioners to shun sensationalism and the massive engagement in politics.

Speaking on Radio Gold Monday morning, Professor Akosa also took a swipe at media practitioners who give platforms to politicians to tout their ideologies.

According to the former Director General of the Ghana Health Service, the media, particularly radio, should not be used to advance any political ideologies of personalities and parties but rather advance the course of nation building.

Professor Akosa, reacting to President Mahama’s call, implored presenters to ensure their programming focusses on developmental agenda of governments, outlining ways in which the country’s challenges would be resolved.

He admonished media practitioners to shun bringing politicians on their shows.

To him, journalists are mandated to instil a sense of nationalism in the citizenry. This he noted should spell out measures to curb Ghana’s economic crises.

“Nobody needs to represent anybody else’s interest. But we do it in such an adversarial way and that is what the President said. It is such in an adversarial way that it is bound to get heated," he said.

“You create a lot of background noise that does not advance the course properly…at the end of the day the moderator should be able to summarise and say that look this is what will move the country forward,” he stated.

President John Mahama last Friday opened up a debate about the activities of radio morning show presenters.

Addressing executives of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and senior editors at the Flagstaff House, President Mahama described the kind of morning shows that are run on radio platforms in the country as lazy.

He explained that: “Radio is the most potent media vehicle and it shapes perceptions of people and so even more than newspapers, radio must get it right in terms of shaping our people’s perception but often the style that is used is very lazy.”

The President therefore urged editors to desist from politicking on the airwaves.

Professor Akosa believed the President was spot on in addressing a pertinent issue with the media.

He said; “Politics is not done on the radio. Politics is done in the chamber of the house of Parliament, whether in Committee rooms or in the main hall. Radio should not be; you can have one or two discussion programmes but let the focus be developmental agenda.

“Politics necessarily does not advance the course of any country. What is important is the development agenda.”

He further expounded that political talks should be held in the House of Parliament because “the Parliamentarians represent their political parties and represent their constituents. In the House of Parliament, there will be party political discussions on national issues. That’s where politics get done…Local politics can be in the local assembly or district assembly chamber. Beyond that, it’s not radio that does politics".