JOY FM PLANNING COUP?

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, December 5, 2013

The government has accused Joy FM, the flagship brand of Multimedia Group Limited of making false statements and trying “to make the government unpopular with a view to promoting a regime change.”

The Accra-based popular radio station had published a report that President John Mahama personally intervened to prevent Merchant Bank Ghana Limited from retrieving monies owed it, a claim the president through his spokesperson has vehemently denied.

Joy FM stated it had documents that suggested that lawyer Tony Lithur once wrote to the presidency to intervene in Merchant Bank’s attempt to force Engineers and Planners to pay debts owed it.

Joy FM’s broadcast which was also published on the station’s website myjoyonline.com appeared to have ruffled the feathers of the government which asked the English-speaking broadcaster to apologise and retract the ‘false statement’ and subsequently accused the station of trying to promote regime change.

A statement titled: “Re: Clarification and apology”, issued from the presidency and signed by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a Deputy Minister of Information, said Joy FM demonstrated “unprofessionalism.”

“This unwholesome practice by Joy FM suggests a deliberate ploy to make Government unpopular with a view to promoting a regime change,” the deputy Minister said in the statement.

“Government has noted a story stuck in an obscure corner on myjoyonline.com in which they purport to render an apology to H.E President John Dramani Mahama over a false publication in which they categorically stated that the ‘Presidency Stopped Merchant Bank from recovering debts from company owned by president’s brother’.

“Government is alarmed that after demonstrating gross unprofessionalism by making such a malicious publication without recourse to the Presidency for clarification and deliberately distorting information available to them in a manner that sought to impugn the integrity of the President, Joy FM and myjoyonline.com would adopt such a half-hearted approach towards correcting the erroneous impression their story created.”

The statement said that “even more worrying is the failure of the two entities to give this deficient ‘clarification and apology’ the same prominence they gave the original false publication.”

“We note that this is not the first time that Joy FM and myjoyonline.com have failed to meet basic journalistic and broadcasting standards of double checking information before publication.”

“Joy FM has adopted a strategy of putting out one-sided damaging stories about Government and subsequently asking Government to respond. When the response suggests otherwise, an obscure apology is rendered by which time damage has already been done to Government’s reputation.”

The statement said “on this occasion, Government is unable to consider the so‐called clarification and apology, in the manner that it has been issued, as adequate to undo the damage that the initial misleading publication has done to the image of the Presidency in particular and the country as a whole.”

“We also find as unacceptable the total lack of prominence given to this supposed apology as compared to the original story.”

The government by the rejoinder demanded “a full, unqualified apology from Joy FM and myjoyonline.com and expected that “this will be given the same prominence that the original malicious publication received, failing which steps would be taken to seek redress in the matter.”