TV/Radio hosts must be firm
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has launched the 21st edition of the GJA Awards with the theme: “Media for Undisputed and Peaceful 2016 Election; the Support of Civil Society”.
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The GJA President, Mr Affail Monnie, used the occasion to call on journalists to contribute their quota to ensure a peaceful and successful Election 2016, through fair and balanced reportage.
He also said that the 2016 elections would be hotly contested with great passion and high expectation by politicians and political parties.
Mr Monney, therefore, charged journalists to be circumspect in their reportage to avert any chaos before, during and after the elections.
Even though I was not present at the event because I was holed up in my holy village, where we buried my late brother, I still monitored events from afar and wish to commend the leadership of the association for the theme they chose for the awards ceremony scheduled for August.
Before this day, I had harboured this uneasy feeling about the depth of knowledge being exhibited by some television and radio hosts of talk shows and other current affairs programmes, particularly issues that border on politics.
At the end of last year, Ghana boasts of 63 television and 313 radio stations across the country and majority of these stations have morning shows where newspaper contents and political issues that keep trending are discussed.
Sadly, the anchors/hosts of some of these programmes have limited world view and seem not to understand the issues on the table. They either fail to research adequately or read widely around the topics they intend to deal with before going on air.
As a result of this serious lapse, they allow voracious and garrulous politicians to take charge of their shows and churn out untruths about their political opponents, which misleads their viewers and listeners.
It is pathetic watching or listening to some show hosts even playing to the gallery where they are unable to hold their guests in check, especially when they are peddling falsehood which maligns very highly respected politicians in society; all in the name of politics.
It’s pitiful seeing some of our media colleagues reducing radio and television discussions to child’s play without any direction.
Most of the time, I feel uncomfortable with some of the hosts who are actually bullied by their guests; not because the guests have superior knowledge, but just for the simple reason that the hosts are ill-prepared or have adopted a partisan position, which makes them relegate the ethics and professionalism that have to guide their work to the background.
Racing back to the early days of the Fourth Republic, I can remember that there were very excellent television and radio hosts, even at that time when there were very few radio and television stations.
There were hosts who went the extra mile to ask the most difficult questions many would not dare ask the politician. The performance of some of these personalities have really given impetus to the accelerated development and expansion of the media landscape.
It is very encouraging that the leadership of the GJA has noticed these lapses early and is, therefore, calling on the media, especially the practitioners, to wake up from their slumber and show professionalism in their work by ensuring that they do not add to the problems that are currently simmering in our political space, which could in a way increase the political temperature of the country.