One of the greatest benefits of the 1992 Republican Constitution is the freedom of expression guaranteed citizens. The repeal of the criminal libel law which was employed by governments to suppress dissent further gave boost to this provision.
This freedom is not a gift to journalists or media practitioners alone but a right granted to every citizen to use any medium, including the mass media to express oneself on any issue of national interest.
One area that has registered tremendous and rapid transformation is the electronic media. With the dwindling fortunes of the newspaper industry globally and with a population that lacks the economic strength and the capability to buy and read newspapers, it is obvious why most Ghanaians have become addicted to the radio and to a lesser extent the television.
Ideally, this is a healthy development since it allows the vast majority of the population to get access to information from both official and unofficial sources. The introduction of phone-in segments also enhances a two-way process and the full participation of the public in national discourse.
The problem we have on hand is the abuse of the airwaves in particular and the media as a whole. The tendency is to make journalists or media practitioners the scapegoats of this unhealthy phenomenon.
As frontliners in information dissemination, media practitioners cannot escape blame for excesses and unethical behaviour. But have we paused to take a critical look at the ownership of the media, especially the radio stations in the country?
A close observation will show that most programme hosts and presenters on radio are not professionals and those they host are themselves not media professionals or intellectuals who have a good grasp of the subject matters under discussion.
Politics has been given preference over all other things and the phone-in programmes have become unrestricted freedom for people to verbally assault their political opponents.
Many of those who are critical of the media tyranny are themselves architects of the game. This is because all the political parties have come to the conclusion that the political battle must be fought and won on the media platform.
So, while journalists are at the receiving end of public anger, a new breed of experts referred to as government and party communicators have seized control of the media airwaves and holding the whole nation to ransom. It has become a lucrative business for people to move from one radio station to another on a daily basis to defend or attack somebody.
Media owners have also offered their stations freely for this battle of words. The journalist's role here is very limited.
Now that we have all come to an agreement that there is abuse of media freedom on radio in particular,the body to hold responsible is the National Communication Authority (NCA), which grants radio frequencies but which appears to have no control over or cares very little about what is put on the airwaves.
It is, therefore, important that suggestions that the mandate of the NCA should be reviewed or if possible merged with that of the National Media Commission (NMC), should be considered seriously.
As it is now,not only the reputation of individuals is at stake. The stability and unity of this country is under serious threat and the earlier we go beyond appeals and exhortations for sanity to prevail, the better for our national good.
