By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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| Image Source: European Parliament |
Ghana to a large extent used to have a strong and dedicated
news media that pursued high standards
of professionalism in news gathering,
packaging and dissemination soon after independence and during the 1980s. These
periods were difficult both during civilian and military dictatorships but most
committed journalists and publishers stood true to the principles and ethics of
the profession.
In their book, ‘The Elements of Journalism’, Bill Kovach and
Tom Rosenstiel have argued that changes in politics, technology, culture and
taste have occurred in the world around us requiring that journalists adapt to
the changes without abandoning the elements of journalism that remain
fundamental and enduring.
“To survive, journalism must adapt in form and style to
reflect changes in culture, politics, taste and technology. But as journalism
changes, those who produce the news also must keep in mind the purpose and
principles of producing accurate information on behalf of the citizens.”
Meanwhile, a cursory look at Ghana’s news media landscape
today shows a cloudy, shady news ecosystem. Generally, the news is shallow,
one-sided, and often not the news at all.
This situation is prevailing in spite of the fact that the
country has been practicing democracy since 1992 and Chapter 13 of the
country’s Constitution stipulates in very elaborate terms and unambiguous
language the freedom of the press. A freedom, unfortunately that seems not to
be exercised fully by news practitioners that it seeks to protect, eventually
making space for nonprofessionals with no news gathering and disseminating training
or skills to hold sway, creating the impression that anyone with a good voice,
good looks, a command of language that might not necessarily be good and could
scribble away something or anything to put themselves up as journalists.
The act is so inundating to the extent that good
quality journalism has been eclipsed.
There are hundreds of private FM radio stations and several
hundreds of registered newspapers and almost 20 TV stations, but not much
positives can be said for particularly the news component of these
organizations.
What can be referred to as good quality and professional news
is sparse and far in-between. What is news in the professional sense is not often
covered well, and not enough is being done to enhance news coverage in ethical
and professional ways, because most of the news organizations are owned by
politicians both in the ruling party and opposition. Depending on which political party is in
power, its supporters and influential members are allocated radio and TV
frequencies and they often seem to have the financial capital to invest in
media organizations. This development has become costly for a country like
Ghana that is struggling to figure out a development path, because often the
facts are clouded and judgemental, and depending on whose interest is being
served, the facts are skewed in that direction with little or no commitment to
ethical demands of journalism and the pursuit of truth.
According to Kovach and Rosenstiel, “Journalism provides
something unique to a culture: independent, reliable, accurate, and
comprehensive information that citizens require to be free. A journalism that
is asked to provide something other than that subverts democratic culture.”
The news
organizations seem to have become unsuccessful in performing their role as
‘Fourth Estate of the Realm’, even with the obvious ineffectiveness of the
country’s often ruling party dominated Parliaments to hold the Executive in
check - a situation that in itself should compel the journalist to rise up and
play the watchdog role with zeal.
Parliaments in Ghana
are on record to have passed into law questionable agreements and have also in
some cases rushed to pass laws without adequate debate or enough information to
the public. A case in point was the repeal of a 1974 law making right-hand
drive vehicles illegal and the passing of the law to make genetically modified
organisms legal in the country. Some questionable sale and purchase and loan
agreements have also been passed without much information to the public –
literally behind the back door.
What has also become common is that most of the news
organizations do not seem to probe deeper into and rigorously question
political decisions and actions of government and the opposition as required by
the tenets of journalism. Often, it is the word of one government official
against an opposition figure and often outright falsehoods are carried in the
news without cross-checking simply because a public official has said so. Most
news organizations have simply become platforms for propaganda and the spread
of often suspicious official views.
Some companies put out misleading advertorials that get
carried by news organizations without any questioning because majority of these
news organizations are commercial entities and they depend largely on
advertizing revenues to stay in business.
The incidence of businesses using advertisement as a control
tool to get news organizations to feign ignorance when they flagrantly abuse laws
and regulations governing business practices in the country is on the increase.
Some news organizations that expose the misconduct of companies are denied
advertising.
In the past for instance, it was common practice for news
organizations to vet advertisements and if they do not meet the ethical standards
of these organizations, they would reject them, but not anymore. Adverts that
are in obvious contravention of laws such as the food and drugs law, the safety
of children and public morality are accepted for broadcast and published by
some of these organizations.
Knowing the importance of advertizing revenues to the
sustainability of these news organizations, some company executives are known
to regularly threaten news organizations with withdrawal of advertisements on
account of publishing factual information about their operations.
Some outstanding journalists have lost their jobs for
insisting on publishing the facts against the wishes of their employers, while
others have had to quit their jobs because they couldn’t ignore the facts and
kill stories that owners and marketing officials of the organizations do not
want to see published even when all the professional conditions for doing such
stories have been fulfilled.
Other journalists sometimes kill stories half way and after
completion or they simply do not look into them after receiving primary
information.
Ghana no doubt has very highly trained journalists and some
of them can stand at par with the best in the world. Indeed, some have excelled
in various beats both at home and abroad including receiving prestigious global
journalism fellowships at Ivy League institutions. The bigger picture of
journalism in Ghana is not a true reflection of the caliber of journalists
working in the country, it is a reflection of media ownership and the large
number of news organizations established not for the basic principles of
journalism but for profit and in most cases for political purposes only.
That being the case, one possible way out of the depressing
quagmire is to consider non-profit news. Non-profit news has been used in most
developed countries to pursue what has become known as crusading journalism.
Non-profits are set up for the single most important purpose of publishing the
truth in the public interest and non-profit news organizations are not
encumbered by the parochial interests of politicians and the corporate world
and therefore exist to serve the greater interest of the public to know the
truth.
Kovach and Rosenstiel say journalism’s first obligation is
to the truth; its first loyalty is to citizens; its essence is a discipline of
verification; its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they
cover; and it must serve as an independent monitor of power.
They add that journalism must provide a forum for public
criticism and compromise and must strive to make the significant interesting
and relevant.
At this very crucial stage of Ghana’s nationhood, where in
spite of constitutionalism, there is very little transparency and
accountability, the need for non-profit news organizations has become more
important.
The role of journalists in holding governments and their
allies in the corporate world to account on behalf of the people cannot be
overemphasized and no strings attached non-profit news organizations could be
one of the important players in this regard. Journalists should be able to do
their jobs without fear of offending political figures or business people whose
interests their employers serve or on who they depend for sustainability. They
should not be compelled in doing their jobs to favour any individual or groups,
but the truth.
Due to the suffocating influence of nonprofessionals on
news, it is so hard at this moment to get a good, fair and balanced idea of the
state of affairs in Ghana by looking at the newspapers, listening to radio or
watching TV. Facts are often not facts by and in themselves but because someone,
most often a public official has said so. And despite the strong belief and
perception of growing public corruption among Ghanaians, news reports about
corruption are often denied by public officials or their assigns making
journalists and news organizations look bad, and not many of the reports
exposing corruption can be proven because most of these reports are either
one-sided or not dug into efficiently, often leaving more room for doubt.
Additionally, not many of the so-called ‘revelations’ can stand as evidence in
courts of law.
While, there is consensus among Ghanaians that the
journalist is important in the pursuit of a progressively accountable and
transparent society ran on good corporate governance principles, one way to
empower the journalist to play that role is to consider the provision of funds
or a source of funding to enable not-for-profit news outlets to play that role.
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