Sane Voices Desert Us (2)

Captain Smart 

 

These days it is difficult to determine the core values of our people by consuming content in the media, especially on radio and television.

It appears this country has no strict standards to guide our public engagements. Therefore, journalists and their panelists do not believe in the time-tested belief that silence is golden.

Some journalists cannot express their disagreements with government policies without insulting the President of the Republic.

While our public media space is reduced to a battlefield, we have elements in the political divide who act as cheerleaders instead of holding them to the sacred code of ethics of journalism.

If that were not the case, would the cause of the very painful and traumatic passing of John Kumah, MP for Ejisu and Deputy Minister of Finance become the topic for discussion on traditional media platforms and social media without recourse to the ethos of journalism?

While this impunity persists, very decent personalities appear to have acquiesced to the abuse of time-tested norms of our society. Those who undertake activities on the media landscape are not circumspect in their discourse but run amok as if they have verbal diarrhoea.

We must watch our tongue even if some nation wreckers hire them to do their bidding. To such people, we have this simple admonition and, that is, they should let the Scripture be their guide. Psalm 37 verse 30 states that “the mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom. And his tongue talks of justice.” Proverbs 15 verse 2 says “the tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly. But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.”

The National Media Commission (NMC) has a duty to sanitise the media space to ensure that its directives are respected to cure the perception that the Commission lacks the teeth to bite.

The NMC states that the suspension or revocation of the licences of the two stations has become imperative because “the two stations have become the soundtrack to hateful rhetoric carefully orchestrated to incite ethnic division, provoke mutiny in the armed forces and prey upon the youth for insurrection against the state.”

Very serious concerns about the two stations’ disregard for professional ethics in the discharge of their duties. Whatever Media General’s position is on the issues raised by the NMC, the public is yet to be convinced that the media outlets are ready to play within the code of ethics of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and regulations from Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA).

We say so because it appears some of the journalists working at Media General are untouchables in so far as they work to advance the agenda of the opposition NDC and its leader, John Mahama.

If that were not the case, how can Captain Smart conclude that John Kumah died from food poisoning, and that his death was related to the choice of running mate of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia?

Perhaps, Captain Smart is a spirit who was hiding in the folder of the late John Kumah and therefore knew about his health challenges.

 

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