FEATURE: Recent attacks on journalists at GHPL match centers demand a strong statement from the media

Yesterday after the 2-0 lashing of Hearts at Dormaa Ahenkro by Aduana Stars, Felix Kwabena Romark, a tireless ambassador of the Ghana Premier League on social media, described how the media were molested, abused and assaulted for covering the game.

This is not the first and it will surely not be the last. The final result will be that, the Ghana Premier League (GHPL) will retrogress as the media begin to boycott matches.

Last season, almost everyone was running to Dawu to cover Dreams FC matches. The secret is; the place is media friendly. They provide free WIFI for internet connection as well as food for the media for covering their matches. This is the level we need to move to and not the primitive and obsolete style of treating media men.

Sadly, while Felix was under assault in Dormaa, one of the most renowned and hardworking photographers on the local sports scene, Senyuiedzorm Awusi Adadevoh was suffering same at the Accra Sports Stadium when Olympics were playing WAFA.

She was booed, hooted at by Olympics fans and called names for striving hard to project the very product the clubs themselves have no idea of how to move it to the next level. She was called an 'Ashawo' by fans of Olympics in the presence of a management member of Olympics Oluboi Commodore who supported the fans and insisted the photographer must not take photos.

Amazingly, a top official of the club, Fred Pappoe, walked by the scene without any intervention.

Last season, Samuel Addo of Happy FM was slapped, kicked and booted by an angry policeman at Tema when Inter Allies played Kotoko at the Tema Park. He was pushed out of the inner perimeter where other journalists were conducting interviews despite showing his GFA accredited ID Card.

Myself, Seidu Adamu and a few other colleagues were driven out of the Nania Park by team officials of the home side. Adamu was pushed and verbally assaulted when Nania were playing Olympics in a Division One clash.

Many of us have suffered similar attacks and abuses at many match venues. And very soon, our coverage of the league will wane.

What is even heartbreaking is that most of these attacks are orchestrated by club officials.

I think the time has come for the media to make a strong statement for the clubs, and for that matter the FA and the PLB to respect our role as the accelerator of the development of the league.

We are media men and inasmuch as we know it is our job to cover the league, who benefits most from the coverage we give?

Apart from Dreams FC and now Kotoko, none of the remaining Premier League clubs has a proper communication structure.

In other leagues, the federation and the league board put in place conscious measures to get the media to strongly facilitate the progress of the game but not in ours.

I am still struggling to identify the last time a calculated attempt was made by the FA or the PLB to involve the media in the drive to move the league to the next level, yet the media is strenuously trying everything possible to push the league up there.

• We sell the league by projecting it to the world
• We contribute immensely to selling the brand of sponsors at no cost
• We have increased the commercial value of the league on social media in an unprecedented manner
• We have given the GHPL a facelift

  ... etc, yet we are the least respected and the most assaulted, both verbally and physically.

Numerous calls from various admirers of the league including CEO of Kumasi Based Metro FM and Africa Origin Travels and Sports Tourism, Samson Deen and many others on the FA and the PLB to contract communication experts, marketing gurus and advertising giants to sell the league have all fallen on deaf ears.

The free service we are offering too, we are suffering abuses.

We deserve better.
We are not criminals.
The media is the vehicle for the progress of the league.

There is a famous saying in Akan that 'If you fail to complain about your haircut, you are given a bad one.' Are we just watching until a journalist dies from such attacks before we act? We need to make a strong statement now!

Truth be told, we are doing our best in the face of difficulties to project the league and Ghana football in general and the least we deserve from some clubs is not these orchestrated attacks and abuses they subject us to. GFA/PLB must come out on these unfortunate happenings.

By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheikh1 on twitter