NDC Courts Media

AFTER YEARS of no-love-lost relationship between them, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has offered a dove to the media as part of re-engineered templates to obliterate its dark past.

Making the offer during a visit to the offices of DAILY GUIDE last Monday, Hon. John Dramani Mahama, the party's running mate and source of the re-engineering, said the NDC is seeking a collaborative relationship with the media.

The visit to DAILY GUIDE, the first in a series of visits to media houses, the running mate said, is part of a major programme to court the friendship of the press to deepen democracy in the country.

An NDC government, he announced, would float a fund to support the Ghanaian media in various forms including enabling practitioners to pursue academic programmes.

His visit, which featured an interactive engagement with the Editor and Chief News Editor in the conference room of the newspaper, afforded the Bole/Bamboi MP an opportunity to elaborate on what his party has for the Ghanaian media when his party comes to power.

“We are thinking about a National Media Fund to be operated by the existing media regulatory institutions like the Ghana Journalists Association and the National Media Commission,” he stated.

“An NDC government would do this without interfering in the work of the media,” he assured.

Displaying his knowledge of the media terrain, Hon. Mahama acknowledged the constraints of some of the establishments, some of which he mentioned were on the fringes of survival.

“These media houses must be supported from such a fund,” he said, adding that “we are committed to protecting the media space.”

He expressed delight at what he described as the midwifery of the press freedom in the country by the NDC of which he was a part.

The rationale behind the visit, he indicated, was to establish a collaborative relationship with DAILY GUIDE which he described as the largest private newspaper in the country.

“The role of DAILY GUIDE cannot be over-emphasised, that is why we are here.”

On a lighter mode he said “I have earned the privilege of being cartooned by the famous Akosua as a wild John and a John kissing for cash.”

The running mate doffed his hat for what he described as DAILY GUIDE's objectivity and balanced reportage.

“I have noted the promotion of NDC stories by the DAILY GUIDE,” he said, adding “the private media won't go anywhere under an Atta Mills government.”

He called on the media to count on the NDC as an ally and demanded of them to collaborate with his party to defend human rights, pointing out that “the least we can ask is call on the media to give us the opportunity to express our opinion.

We ask for objectivity and fairness as we pledge a healthy competition.”

The NDC, he stated, is not at war with the other parties, stressing that after all the political groupings are seeking the interest of Ghana.

The parties only differ from each other by their ideologies and this, he said, does not make them enemies. “Let our followers take a cue from this,” he stated.

Hon. Mahama denounced the politics of insults which he acknowledged “won't take us anywhere”.

The media, he observed, had a role to play in ensuring that election results are credible by publicizing grey areas when these are pointed out.

He particularly pointed at the alleged bloated register in the Ashanti Region, explaining “a flawed register cannot ensure a clean election result”.

Hon. Mahama noted that his party had cause to raise objection about what he called a bloated register, adding however that “happily the Electoral Commission is working on it”.

With a free and fair election, he noted, the vanquished would concede defeat without rancour with the victor.

Preceding Hon. Mahama's remarks were those of Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, MP, Tamale Central, who described the visit as thematic, in which the party is stretching a hand of collaboration to the media.

According to him Hon. Mahama would undertake similar trips to other media houses, explaining that an open and a transparent government cannot be achieved without a collaborative relationship with the media.

In his remarks, Fortune Alimi, Editor of DAILY GUIDE, expressed gratitude to Hon. Mahama and assured him that the paper would continue to give adequate coverage to the political parties including the NDC.

He relished Hon Mahama's lofty plans for the media as he recalled what he said were the difficult days for the media when the running mate served as Communications Minister.

“There is no substitute for professionalism. We have given the NDC adequate coverage,” he said, adding that “we have to open the frontiers of journalism by opening our pages to all the political parties. I am looking forward to the day when Prof. Mills will storm our offices.”

The media have for a long time been adversaries of the NDC, a fact which led the latter to describe the former as being in bed with the ruling party.

With the PR onslaught being championed by the running mate, a communications expert, perhaps the party would earn for itself a new image, away from the previous perception of being a bloody grouping.

By A.R. Gomda