Ken Ashigbey: Media taking liberty too far
The Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Mr Ken Ashigbey, has expressed concern about the irresponsible media practice in the country.
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He said some of the media were taking the liberty they had too far, “on the back of the fact that we want the media to be free of interference.”
Mr Ashigbey expressed the concern when the former Chairman of the Bar Council of England and Wales, Mr Desmond Browne, paid a courtesy call on him to have first-hand information about the operations of the Daily Graphic and the media landscape in the country.
Mr Browne is in the country to deliver the 20th anniversary lecture of the National Media Commission on the theme, “Press Freedom and Media Responsibility in Democracy”.
He was accompanied by the Chairman of the National Media Commission, Ambassador Kabral Blay-Armihere and Deputy Executive Secretary to the NMC, Mr Alexander Bannerman.
Unethical media practice
Mr Ashigbey noted that even though there were lots of guidelines and ethics governing the operations of the media in the country, “you find people breaking the very rudimental things on the back of the fact that we want the media to be free”.
Touching on challenges on the media landscape, Mr Ashigbey said there were discussions going on with the NMC to assist the media to provide fair and equal coverage, especially during political campaign.
Newspaper review
Mr Ashigbey attributed the decline of sales of newspapers to the activities of the electronic media, adding that “they sit in the morning on a radio or TV and read the whole newspaper, including features,” and hinted that since newspaper review was sponsored by companies, the Graphic Communications Group Ltd would soon engage with some of those electronic media houses to share the proceeds accrued from the review.
Independence of Graphic
Concerning the independence of the Graphic Communications Group, he said, “We even pay some dividend to the government. We have been self-sustaining.”
“We realise the fact that to really be able to drive the media agenda, you need to be very independent, such that you will be able to take up your constitutional mandate of keeping the government accountable to the people,” he explained.
Mr Brown was happy to be in Ghana and especially at the Daily Graphic and elated to know that the paper was self-financing since that gave the media the free hand to operate.
He said the media needed to be free, “but the real question is whether the freedom impart on the duties and responsibility that the media have?” and was happy that the Media Commission was there to regulate.
Tricks
In a response, Mr Blay-Armihere observed that it was a worrying situation because there were some of the newspapers which did not even appear on the newsstands. “they send their stories to the Ghanaweb and they are in circulation and are picked up by the radio and TV stations to be reviewed.”