Be More Open With Media - Ransford Tetteh

Mr Ransford Tetteh - Editor of the Daily Graphic

The Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, has called for openness from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in its dealings with the media.

He said the military was an important national institution whose activities impacted on the Ghanaian and, therefore, the public, through the media, needed to know the developments and happenings in that establishment.

Mr Tetteh was speaking during a courtesy call on him in his office yesterday by the new Director of Public Affairs of the GAF, Col Mbawine Atintande.

The call was to solicit the support of the Daily Graphic to publicise activities of the GAF in its quest to create a good image.

He was accompanied by Lt. Rita Anane, a member of staff of the GAF Public Relations Department.

Col Atintande, who has served in the GAF for 24 years, was both promoted to the rank of Colonel and appointed Director of Public Relations on July 8, this year.

Prior to enlisting in the GAF, Col Atintande was an employee of the Daily Graphic and rose to become acting Features Editor.

Mr Tetteh said the GAF, apart from its conventional role, also engaged in the building of bridges and rescue operations during floods, as well as helped in the maintenance of law and order.

He said the GAF also provided good educational institutions and medical facilities and played very important roles in other sectors of the economy.

Therefore, he added, when journalists raised issues about the military, they expected the institution to address them, adding that “the military should no longer be a no-go area”.

He said the days when journalists and the GAF saw themselves as belonging to different camps should be over and added that the public needed to know what the military was doing and could do better.

Mr Tetteh, who is also President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), said basically journalism was for the good of the people and journalists sought to raise pertinent issues to be addressed by decision makers and implementors, and raising issues concerning the military was one of those.

On the issue of balanced reporting, he said it was important for the military to comment on issues raised by journalists in order to provide the balance the institution was seeking.

The News Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Sam Okaitey, who was also present at the meeting, pledged to increase the number of reporters who covered the military beat from one to two.

He mentioned the recent botched recruitment exercise of the military as one of the issues which the GAF could have opened up on and explained adequately with the assistance of the media.

He also urged the GAF to extend special invitations to the Graphic staff to social gatherings of the GAF such as the annual Wassa to foster the closer relations between the two parties.

For his part, Col Atintande said there was a general direction towards openness in the GAF now and expressed the readiness of the armed forces to collaborate with the media and be open and transparent.

He said there were very positive developments in the military which were not getting media attention and added that some media houses, through their publications, appeared to adopt the posture of focusing only on the negative.

He said even in such cases, the GAF remained tolerant and understanding.

Col Atintande noted that the Daily Graphic had wide national coverage, therefore, the GAF needed the newspaper in its quest to reach the public and nurture a good image.

He called for a discussion between the Daily Graphic and the GAF on what structures to put in place to foster the relationship between the two organisations.

He called for the newspaper’s support as he embarked on a nationwide tour of GAF facilities next month.