NCCE: Media Must Examine Political Speeches Carefully

The Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Charles K. Nkromah, has advised media practitioners to critically examine speeches by politicians and party functionaries before publishing them in order to foster an atmosphere of peace and harmony.

He said phone-in segments of radio programmes and text messages sent to presenters for public consumption, needed to be in good taste in order not to inflame passions.

Citing instances across the African continent, Mr Nkromah said “it stands to reason that media personnel ought to be very careful and circumspect in their reportage to the public”.

The NCCE Regional Director, who was addressing a forum organised by the commission for media practitioners in the region, drew their attention to the fact that Article 162(1) of the 1992 Constitution guaranteed the freedom of the media and also encouraged practitioners to deal with issues or make reports of whatever happened in the country dispassionately.

“In fact, the nation should count on your high level of integrity in the performance of your duties and the media, both the print and electronic, have a vital role to play in ensuring that the 2008 elections are peaceful,” he said.

Additionally, he said if what the media offered the public sought to promote peace, there would be peace in the country; however, if they put up calls for provocation and violence, there would be violence among the people.

Mr Nkromah called on all stakeholders to work creditably and conscienteously to ensure credible elections in December, to give a further boost to the country's democracy.

“If elections become free, fair and transparent, it gives room for all citizens to participate in the government process, inject trust, respect and confidence in the people to freely go about their duties, reduces intimidation, authoritarianism, conflicts and violence in society”, he observed.

The NCCE Director pointed out that elections were about politicians expressing their views and plans for the development of the people they wanted to lead but not about actions that would mar the nation's peace and tranquillity, adding, “It is indeed a responsibility on all of us to exhibit civility and Godly virtues so that the country would experience peace before, during and after the elections”.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Manager of the Ghana News Agency, Mr Charles Koomson in an intervention, noted that the future of Ghana's democratic progress was closely linked to the growth and development of the media, since practitioners did not only reflect the society but even more critically, provide the country's system of government with the vital ingredient for it to remain a truly functional democratic state.

Mr Koomson, who is also the Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), cautioned that, any journalist who, during the upcoming elections would decide to work as a formal domestic observer or party agent “shall not be accorded journalistic rights and privileges, adding that journalists should always be circumspect in their coverage.

“Journalists covering the elections should know and understand basic electoral terms such as polling agent, polling staff, polling assistant, presiding officer, impersonation, irregularities and multiple voting and all journalists should strive to use open and direct means to gather information during the elections,” the Regional GJA chairman stressed.

Reverend Richard Owusu-Achiaw, Founder and General Overseer of Living Grace Ministry in Sunyani, who chaired the function, stated that misinformation eroded trust and undermined the credibility that the media strived valiantly to maintain and that credibility was the very foundation of the media in any democratic society.

Story by Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah.