Media tasked To Fight Corruption

Dignitaries at the function (from Left to Right): Berefi Apentneg, Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, Florence Dennis and Sulemana Braimah.

The media was put in the spotlight yesterday when the Ghana-Anti Corruption Coalition (GaCC) organized a forum to dissect the media's coverage of issues of corruption, transparency and accountability in the country.

According to the coalition, of which the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is a founding member, although there was a 'marginal' increase in investigative and follow-up stories on issues of corruption, transparency and accountability, the media's effort was 'still unsatisfactory'.

At the forum, which was attended by a host of senior editors from various media houses, the GaCC took the opportunity to share with the public findings of a survey on how the media covered issues of corruption, transparency and accountability between July and December 2010.

Releasing the findings, one of the lead researchers, Sulemana Braimah of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), said there was reduction in the number of corruption related stories, reduction in prominence in terms of front page placements and limited follow-up stories on the subject.

He said the study revealed that organizations and institutions that formed part of the anti-corruption coalition continued to have limited media coverage, and added that 'limited analytical skills, trivialization of stories through political partnership and single sourcing of stories are impeding the effort of media practitioners to fully support the fight against corruption.'

He said it was time for the coalition to look for better ways of effectively engaging with and integrating the media in their anti-corruption mandate, and urged the media to find ways to effectively carry out its anti-corruption mandate.

Berefi Apentneg, former MD of Graphic Communications Group Limited and currently a media consultant, said the media could not disassociate itself from the fight against corruption. He urged the media to start the fight against corruption from within its own ranks, before it could have the courage to tackle corruption in the public sector.

'The media is a major ally in the fight against corruption. It has what it takes to fight corruption but the practitioners lack adequate skills to expose corruptions,' he noted.

He said even though the media reasonably highlighted on issues of corruption, it did not seem to be making major impact in the fight against the menace.

Mr. Apentneg said there were a lot of anti-corruption laws that were not being properly exploited by the media in the crusade, and urged journalists to, for instance, take advantage of the process of procurement to point out corruption.

Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, Chairperson of the Editors Forum, Ghana, urged the media to diversify their sources and tackle the issue of corruption to their logical conclusions.

She said the issue of corruption 'can take complex forms' and it needed the acquisition of specialized skills by journalists to fight the menace.

Florence Dennis, Executive Secretary of GaCC, said the coalition recognized the prominent role of the media in the fight against corruption, and promised to collaborate effectively to address the issue of corruption.

By William Yaw Owusu