Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Saturday, May 3, 2014
The National Media Commission (NMC) Chairman
Kabral Blay-Amihere wants media professional associations to refocus to enhance
the professional scope and competence of their members.
“It will be a great pity if the only
significant event on the calendar of the GJA remains its annual awards ceremony
and the celebration of World Press Freedom Day…GJA must be at the forefront of
organizing seminars and workshops that address issues of professional standards
in order to manage issues,” he emphasized.
Celebrated under the theme: “Development
journalism, media safety and integrity,” the World Press Freedom Day set aside
by the United Nations, provides an opportunity to highlight the fundamental
principles of press freedom.
Mr. Blay-Amihere said conflicts and
political impunity in some countries have made journalists endangered species,
stating that in some instances, the courts are used to harass and frighten
journalists from pursuing their legitimate business of reporting all the news.
“In Ghana, although our constitution
continues to guarantee freedom of the press, several reported cases of assault
and threats by members of the security agencies and some sections of the public
is hindering media freedom and Ghana’s reputation as a model for democracy.
He said “we should always condemn any
form of assault, intimidation that does not help the growth of the press.”
He bemoaned the lack of solidarity in
the media landscape, saying “anytime one of their members is attacked, with the
arsenal of media power at their disposal, the media by showing solidarity
through sustained campaigns against those who attack any of their members can
contain the culture of violence against the media.
“What we see sadly in Ghana is that each
besieged media house left to cry its own cry. Sometimes, even victims of such
assault fail to give the incident the full publicity it deserves in order to
mobilize public opinion.”
He said the time has come for
journalists to also reflect on their own commitment to ethical journalism.
It is when journalists respect the core
values of the profession such as fairness, accuracy, objectivity and
truthfulness that they can together confront the imposition of heavy fines in
libel cases that potentially threaten the existence of the media.
Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a Deputy Minister of
Information and Media Relations rekindled the Media Fund debate and insisted
the fund is not intended to influence the media to pander to the dictates of
the government.
He said the various media associations
were not proactive in the disbursement of the fund which generated public
uproar, adding “the fund has not been mismanaged as alleged in the media.”
“One can perhaps argue that the use to
which it was put the last time could have been better. You can say that rather
than purchasing ICT gadgets to assist the work of media practitioners, we could
perhaps have invested it in further training and capacity building. That
argument is entirely separate from saying that the resources that came or
accrued to the fund were misapplied or in some instances, it has been alleged
that it has been embezzled and that is an unfortunate perception.”
He said an accounting framework exist to
ensure accountability and urged stakeholders not to take entrenched positions
on the way forward for the fund.
Affail Monney, President of the GJA, tasked
journalists to be committed to the concept of development.
Nii Laryea Sowah, a representative of
private newspapers PRINPAG, said the format for the celebration should change
to embrace what he called radical way of tackling problems confronting media
freedom.
Pix saved as Press Freedom 2014 in newdaily
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