Are Ghana Media Desirous of Helping to end or Fight Corruption in Ghana?

I am moved by years of close monitoring and studying of the Ghana media to come out with the question, “Are Ghana media desirous of helping

to end or fight corruption in Ghana?” From the behaviours of some Ghanaian journalists, both based in Ghana and abroad, and how they disseminate

information on air and in print, any discerning person can rightly judge them as to whether they are serious about helping the nation to advance or not.

The media in brief, are to inform and educate the public on events taking place in the country and in the world. In so doing, they have to

be fair in their reportage without being biased. However, in Ghana, some media houses have become so partisan and biased to the extent that their entrenched

positions have sucked the ethics of journalism out of them hence they have become “stomach” journalists. They are influenced by the benefits they will

derive from disseminating information. They care less about whether they are telling the truth or throwing dust into people’s eyes as long as they obtain

the benefits they expect; hence their obvious political polarization.

Although in most advanced countries, we have some media supporting one political party or the other. Nevertheless, their support is based on telling

the truth and giving a balanced view about the government and her policies and why they support whom they support. However in Ghana, the media or journalists who

have thrown the ethics of their profession out of the window to pursue their selfishly insatiable quest for quick buck, thus, to be immensely rich

overnight, do not give a hoot about the welfare of the masses but will go out to tell lies if that will assist them obtain their objective.

How can we fight corruption in Ghana without bringing our traditional chiefs into the picture? Is it not the traditional chiefs who sell

lands to, or authorise, illegal surface miners (galamseyers) to spoil the nation’s water bodies, savage fertile farmlands and forests and dig or leave

behind death-trap pits that kill unsuspecting local people? Is it not the traditional chiefs who sell the same plot of building lands two or three times to

different aspiring homeowners to bring about unnecessary litigations among the purchasers of the land? Is it not these same chiefs who abuse their positions

to disregard conventions when it suits them? Some chiefs feel they can reap from where they have not sown, becoming bullies and human monsters yet,

our shameless media do somehow support them either for fear or for what they stand to gain.

Unless the Ghana media become more responsible and professional, helping to tell and publish the truth but not the lies as some are noted for,

they should not see or consider themselves as fighting corruption but rather helping to prop, if not propagate, corruption.

Some of them when they try to publish the truth that does not sit well with most of our remarkably corrupt politicians, they are threatened

with civil suit. Therefore, they rather prefer to keep their silence or to support the roguish attitudes of the politicians.

Citing myself as a case example, my online publishers have for some time now denied me the publications of articles about the Kumawu

chieftaincy dispute when much revelations about the illegal perpetrations by the Asante overlord are made. How do the media help me fight corruption when

they adopt this type of attitude? The media must be fearless in disseminating information once the news they are putting out is nothing but the absolute truth.

I am not being ungrateful to my online publishers but I expect them to continue to help with the fight against corruption in all

honesty. Corruption is not only about embezzlement of public funds and state assets but more about the abuse of power by people in positions of trust for

various illegal reasons.
The media as a whole are a powerful tool to wield when we are honestly aspiring to advance any country. They can help us take our rogue

Ghanaian and African leaders to account. Without dynamic journalism in Ghana, our tagged corrupt politicians and

abusive chiefs will continue to take the people and the nation for a permanent rough ride.

Ghana media, please let us see you as being more effective in helping to build Ghana by telling the truth while discouraging lies in the dispensation

of our democratic process. Ghana is far behind civilized socio-economic advancement taking into account our rich natural and human resources.

Subsequently, we really need our media to help bring about the needed progress for the benefit of the nation and the citizens. They can only do this by

fearlessly telling the truth and standing tall to challenge our corrupt political and traditional leaders.

Rockson Adofo