A Slip of the Doctor’s Knife May Kill One, But a Slip of the Journalist Pen Kills Millions.

 

 The media industry has seen a tremendous growth since its inception, and the hitherto concealed matters are now in public spaces just with the click of a button. The proliferation of the media has deepened the democratic credentials of Ghana, as well as served as the mouth-piece of the socially-handicapped in our societies.

The quashing of the Circuit Court decision that saw Charles Antwi jailed for 10 years after the suspected mentally derailed fellow went to the church where the president worships with a gun was largely made possible by the loud-mouth of the media which gave the matter the prominence it resonated.

Despite the phenomenal role the media have played and continue to play, there have been concerns about unprofessional conducts by some media practitioners. Some journalists have involved themselves in scandals unwarranted of the profession, hence, dragging the image of the industry into the mud.

Just some recent past, Asamoah Gyan, the Ghana’s skipper’s sexual affair with a 22 years student, Sarah Kwablah, which was debated in the court of public opinion saw a journalist indicted as having demanded money from the Shanghai-based star, failure of which the said journalist threated to publish a sexual video of the footballer and the lady in the center of the controversy.

During the 2012 election petition hearing at the Supreme Court , as well as the hearing of the Justice Djemefe’s Commission of Enquiry which was mandated to probe into Ghana’s participation in the 2014 World Cup  in Brazil, several people were cited for contempt of court including journalists who in true essence, were supposed to shape opinions and guard public utterances. These incidences and many others have raised a lot of red-flags about the level of professionalism of some journalist.

In my media class, I questioned my lecturer why journalists are often touted as professionals, when in reality, some journalists do not have such word either in their dictionary or their conduct. Unlike medicine, law, nursing, pharmaceutical and the rest where people are certified before they can call themselves professional, journalism is not the same. This has given room for any person who can afford a notepad and a pen to call him or herself a journalist. Just as we have quack-doctors, I believe the number of quack- journalists in this country far exceed the well-trained journalists.

 The only difference, I believe,  between the “quacks” in medicine and those in the media is that whilst flouters in medicine are made to face the law, those in the media are rather given more audience and are made to go scot-free all in the name of free speech. The phenomenon, perhaps, is because society perceives that a slip in the knife of a doctor can cause a life to be lost but the slip of a journalist might not have such a devastating effect.

This view, in my candid opinion, is a misplaced judgment or what the legal luminaries would refer to as miscarriage of justice. As much as the media have contributed greatly to the development of free speech in Ghana and by extension, the world, some utterances of the media have resulted in the death of tonnes of millions of people across the globe. The Rwanda war which could be chastened as a holocaust that swept millions into their early graves was as a result of the unprofessional conduct of some unscrupulous media professionals.

As we inch closer to 2016 electioneering period when some political parties would want to exploit the media in order to advance their political fortunes, caution must be taken on how the media report on issues.

As the sages succinctly advice, “as we drive away the hyena, we must also advice the goat.” Inasmuch as we need to weed out quack professionals, the outstanding journalists in this country who have dedicated themselves to trumpet the voice of the vulnerable and have safe-guarded the peace of this country should be well rewarded.

The reward in this sense should encompass issues of remuneration, security, safety and the general wellbeing of practitioners. The recent accident, involving the Presidential Press Corp which resulted in the death of Samuel Nuamah, the Ghanaian Times reporters and left  several other journalists still battling for their lives, has unearthed many startling revelations which underpin how journalists are disrespected even at the heart of government. 

I have over the years witnessed the GJA annual awards that seek to reward journalists for their services to the nation. Mabel Aku Banessah of the Daily Graphic who won the prestigious Ghana Journalists of the Year Award had to wait for close to one whole year before receiving her prize package from the GJA, and guess what, her prize package was only GH¢5,000!

In my opinion, the price package is too small for journalists who have contributed so much for this country. Beauty pageants have been organized in this country where the winners take home brand new cars. So what prevents the journalist whose toil gives publicity to such events also taking a car or its equivalent when he or she wins such an award as the Best Journalist of the Year? When our Black Stars went to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, our players were handed $10,000 as winning bonuses for each player per match. Why is it that journalists can’t be given $10,000 as a prize package for the Best Journalist of the Year Award?

 I believe it is a high time the leadership of this country took journalist as an indispensable force in the development of our dear country and treat them with some dignity and seriousness they deserved. The GJA must streamline the media environment and draw a clear line between who qualifies to be a journalist and who does not. Preferably, just like other profession, journalist should be made to write licensing exams to ensure that only qualified practitioners are recognized as such. This way, media owners will be compelled to hire only the services of only qualified professionals. That way, just as we try to prevent the slip of the doctor’s knife in order to protect a soul, we will control the pen of the journalist in order to prevent preventable national catastrophe.

Writer: Abdul-Karim Mohammed Awaf
Service Personnel: Graphic Communication Group Limited
Accra