Media urged to be fair in coverage of issues

Koforidua, July 24, GNA - The Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church-Ghana, has encouraged the media to be fair, responsible and objective in their coverage of issues, for the sake of national cohesion.

“The media must facilitate national cohesion and not chaos and disintegration through gutter journalism, cheque-book journalism and the journalism of partisan political propaganda as we enter another Presidential and Parliamentary election in 2012,” he said.

Most Rev. Asante was speaking at a workshop in Koforidua, organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs, (IEA) for senior media personnel and representatives of political parties.

He said given that the health of democracy in the 20th and 21st Century was linked to the health of systems of communications, “We must be concerned about the health of the media in Ghana”.

“A healthy media in my view is characterized by critical independence, democratic constructiveness and objectivity and commercial viability,” he stated

He urged media practitioners to understand that the dynamics of partisan politics had evolved and shifted over the years and it was no longer issues oriented or even a clever competition for party dominance.

“Partisan politics has unfortunately degenerated into the struggle for power at any cost,” he stated. “In the context of this conception of partisan politics there are a lot of political casualties who are deliberately maligned and dehumanized with a barrage of spin, scandal mongering, innuendo and even outright lies.”

Most Rev. Asante advised that the media‘s role to perform watchdogs over governments, their agencies and political institutions must not be compromised in the face of that unfortunate degeneration of partisan politics.

He also advised the media to discourage political insults, lies and invectives.

However, they should facilitate constructive debates on issues of national interest by opening up channels of communication for dialogue between the public and the government.

They should also provide structures to engender public involvement, debate, discussion and interrogation of government activities.

Most Rev. Asante noted that the media that had achieved the critical balance of critical independence, democratic constructiveness and objectivity and commercial viability and were ready to serve as conduits for democratic accountability, the fostering of informed citizenship and the injection of marginalized voices into the public sphere.

“I pray for the media that have the capacity to disseminate truthful information and not falsehood; raise penetrating questions and critically engage with issues confronting the citizenry and do not trifle with trivialities and sensationalism.”