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In the Ghanaian Times newsroom in the mid-1980s, every reporter knew the maxim: IF IN DOUBT, LEAVE!
We were doing.
The news editor controlled the use of one of only two direct dial phones (the other was in the editor’s office).
You had to have a compelling cause to be allowed to approach that phone – and among the most compelling causes were: cross-checking a fact, a soldier’s rank, a woman’s first name or truth or other that a prominent one had died.
When, in 1994, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) developed and adopted its code of ethics, all it asked for was that journalists adhere to “the highest ethical standards, professional competence and professionalism. good behavior ”, the same considerations that produced the“ Maxime of the 80s times.
Among other things, the Code requires that journalists • report the TRUTH at all times; •… CHECKS its facts; • Checks the source of each piece of information; and • Places ACCURACY OVER SPEED. (Mine caps)
What changed? Nothing and everything. As for the race for news, nothing has changed: the word “scoop” is still in the dictionary of all journalists.
However, with the proliferation of newspapers, radio and television stations, exacerbated by new media or social media, the rules have changed. Or, do they have?
No, they didn’t. Only a few journalists did. The survival of the market bends ethics.
So what is the name of the profession that allows Ghana TV station to read, without cross-referencing, a video ostensibly showing the President of Ghana taking “a bribe” while the President himself? even, its communications director or the information minister only a phone call away from the newsrooms of the press houses or were physically accessible to their journalists accredited at the Jubilee House!
Something has happened to ethics.
But for Kweku Baako who knew the circumstances in which the footage was filmed, the name of the person who filmed it and who actually produced the original footage, no one would have believed it was a falsified video. .
Who did the doctorate? Why? My God, we have come very far from our humanity. We are almost sub-human.
The reaction from NDC’s Sammy Gyamfi was very distressing. When Adom TV, faced with the truth, apologized to the president, this party broadcaster called out the station’s names. Has the truth become subjective? Does politics blur the lines of reason?
These are questions politicians need to answer.
What about us journalists? The principle of precision over speed has been overturned. The maxim now reads: “When in doubt, publish and let whoever the cap fits out to deny”.
It’s a jungle there. No rules. Anyone can call the press and say just about anything and pronto, it’s news, suitable for print, broadcast or broadcast !!! No one is safe.
At the end of 2020, I rushed to Kwami Sefa Kayi’s office. He is an honest and knowledgeable journalist who earned his title. Other than that, it is reasonable.
So what virus could have infected him to agree to host an NPP rally in Ashanti? I saw the photo on social media. The president was present and there were people in the paraphernalia of nuclear power plants. Sefa Kayi could be seen walking towards the platform where the president was seated.
That’s what we saw, and that’s why I went to Peace FM and to Kwami. I was worried, worried that one of Ghana’s favorite radio personalities had taken the path of all the cheap journalists. (To this list of radio nobles add Bernard Avle and Evans Mensah).
It was at Peace FM that Kwami showed me the original image – and I have since double-checked. The occasion was not a function of the nuclear power plant. It was the sod cut for Boankra Inner Harbor! In the original image, there were ambassadors and other foreign dignitaries, plus Otumfuo Osei Tutu.
There was a small crowd of people in the paraphernalia of nuclear power plants, but every Ghanaian slightly older than the Fourth Republic knows this is a familiar sight in most state functions since 1992 when NDC supporters / NPP have exploited such media photo ops during grass clippings near the election. . Kwame was the MC. But he had been MC in state functions in the past, during the NDC era.
In the photo on social media, someone cut off the rest of the dignitaries to make Kwami look like an NPP event.
Who did that? Why?
Irresponsible journalism started out as a bug, but now it’s a virus that infects everyone, and there is no vaccine.
Ethical journalism is dying, but I thank God for the few who refuse to let it go. Affail Monney, president of the GJA, has a list of a few.
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The writer, Enimil Ashon, is a former editor of the “Ghanaian Times” and now a columnist for the “Daily Graphic”.
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