Public Agenda (Accra)
Basiru Adam
11 August 2008
opinion
Accra — "If journalists are unethical, it is because the rich and powerful who control the destiny of society operate without ethics" - Prof. Ansu-Kyeremeh
One of the most famous quotes journalists the world over would not hesitate to resort to in defence of their role is the one by the third president of America Thomas Jefferson. "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
Steve Boriss of the University of Washington in St. Louis USA understands what Jefferson meant in the following words "He believed that each of us is born with God-given rights that must not be taken away - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The potential thief he had in mind was government. Accordingly, he thought that the single most important role for newspapers was to serve as a "fence" to prevent government from encroaching on individual rights".
Some questions arise out of Steve Boriss' assessment, whom it must be said though is not an enthusiast of "modern journalism." Have newspapers and by extension the media served as the "fence" against Thomas Jefferson's potential thief so far? Or has the media rather become the potential thief and government the "fence" in the eyes of the very citizenry whose protection is the bone of disputation here?
One thing is certain though. Today, it would take Thomas Jefferson or any student of his school of thought an uphill task to get many a Ghanaian in particular to side with a statement that seems to arrogate to the media such unrepressed powers.
For some, especially those in officialdom, journalists have become nothing but creepy little creatures that must be crushed for good.
The Twi word 'Konkonsafuor' (gossips) is what often translates the word 'journalists' in Ghana.
Certainly, journalists enjoy a kingly ride under certain circumstances.
Imagine yourself a reporter for one of the numerous media houses in Ghana. On an early Friday morning, just when you had stepped out of the taxi or whatever you boarded from home, you see this latest model of a Tata Safari 4x4 parked in front of your office. You enter the newsroom and your editor gives you an expectant look and says as a response to your greeting, "Ahaaa! Good you are here. There is a car waiting outside. It is from institution A. Please join them for an assignment."
You may be unprepared and unsettled at that particular point in time but you are sure to enjoy the best of courtesies. Yes, you will because your services are needed. And in no time, your initial distemper will vanish with the cooling warmth of the air conditioner in the four-wheel drive.
Besides, no matter how long and strenuous the journey might turn out to be you would not mind. And at the end of it all you will be served the best of dishes, accompanies by a fat envelope of almighty 'soli' and driven back home safely for a good job done in advance.
Conversely, imagine yourself as a wholehearted and energetic news reporter, committed to serving the interest of the voiceless segments of society. As such, you would like to follow up on issues, probe and look for answers to the plethora of unanswered questions.
Of course, you would not expect things to come your way on a silver platter especially when someone somewhere has something to hide.
But the frustrations that would come your way are such that they have today turned many journalists into what Prof. Ansu-Kyeremeh calls "unwitting messengers of the powerful for the domination of the powerless." So that journalists are used and dumped by politicians as and when they desire.
A visiting Canadian journalist observed, and rightly, that too much of the news in Ghana is about the powerful and not the voiceless segments of society whose interest should be the prime occupation of journalists.
But the irony of it too is that the very people journalists expend their energies trying to please come down hard on them when a bit of the pepper enters their eyes.
Recent happenings in Ghana make one wonder whether people have principles at all. When politicians mount a platform, they tend to consider little the likely consequences of what they say.
They also tend to forget or ignore the fact that reporters are supposed to report and that in doing so, it would be flat on their part to stick to the exact words of the speaker and that they reserve the right to take the story from any angle, provided, of course, that it be within.
It is high time people leant to stick to their words even at the price of their lives. I strongly think so.
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