Court awards'll be used to build ethics sch for journos – GFA

The Communications Director of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) SaaniDaara has disclosed that the association will use the funds from their ongoing legal tussle with two known sports journalists, Patrick Osei Agyemang and Kofi Asare Brako, to build a school of ethics for sports journalists in the country if they win the case.

The FA has been livid over what it perceives as poor journalistic standards exhibited by some practitioners, resulting in FA President Kwesi Nyantakyi instituting legal action against the two sports journalists for defamation.

Speaking to Class Sports, Mr Sannie Daara cautioned journalists to be circumspect in their reportage.

“Let me use this opportunity to warn the lie mongers that this time we will not take this sitting down. We will not take lies, calculated attempts to tarnish people’s integrity. We have started with two journalists and we would continue to another radio station,” he stated.

The GFA president sued the two journos seeking damages to the tune of $2million for defamation.

According to Mr Daara, the suit would serve as a deterrent to other media outlets.

“The radio stations must collapse for allowing people to use the opportunity to spread falsehood, hatred and lies against people. They must go out of business. Someone has built his reputation for ages and you use your radio station to run them down and you make profits, so you don’t care? And it is not as if the owners of the radio station have not been warned and they laughed at it. They would be laughing at the wrong side of their mouth,” he stated.

The GFA’s Communications Director added that the case would be pursued to its logical conclusion.

“We will pursue the case to the hilt. They say the wheels of justice grind slowly but when it does… Let me even pre-empt what that money would be used for: we would want to use it for a school of ethics if indeed we get the judgment, so that journalists learn. There are some journalists – I’m not saying all journalists – the vast majority of them, [that is] 99 per cent, are decent and hardworking but in this trade, there are rogue journalists and the rogue ones are before the law courts.”