The Media’s Role In Orientation

The statement by the Minister of Information and National Orientation that the media has a crucial role to play in the ministry's National Orientation concept is true and in the right direction.

As the channel through which information is disseminated in the country to the public, the media is obliged to carry the concept to the people.

Already, the media has been informing, educating and entertaining the people as their traditional role. They have also been explaining government policies to the people and bringing feedback to the government.

Now that the government has added orientation of the people to their original duties, it would be incumbent on the media to re-package themselves to carry out the extra duty more efficiently.

Orientation is very important for Ghanaians at this time of the country's history, as it is expected to effectively instill the spirit of nationalism and patriotism in the people.

It is the responsibility of a patriotic citizen to always defend the good name of his country. Such a person would never tarnish the reputation of his country.

As such, he would not join others to smuggle commodities like cocoa or fuel to other countries, or print counterfeit notes for circulation and weaken the national economy.

It is through orientation that the people can avail themselves of the important values they need to equip themselves with in order to fulfill the national agenda.

Any media organisation which would fail to carry out the duty of sensitizing the people on the national orientation would consequently not be counted among those worth their salt.

Luckily, the government is supplying tools to the media to be used in carrying out those duties. Among those tools are the cinema vans which were used in the past to communicate government policies to the people in the remotest parts of the country.

Personnel who would be using those vans must be patriotic enough to take very good care of them since it is the tax-payer's money that is being used to import those vans.

If therefore they resort to driving the vehicles recklessly they would break down in no time, and it is our own money that would go down the drain.

It is necessary also to encourage the media to continue playing not only their traditional roles but the added role as well, such as the national orientation concept.

This is why the media is not happy about the Accra Metropolitan Assembly's (AMA) decision to remove structures used by newspaper vendors from pavements in the metropolis for the purposes of beautifying the city.

DAILY GUIDE urges all media organizations in the country to give special treatment to issues related to the National Orientation concept.