Last week, February 13, 2022, World Radio Day was marked to raise public awareness on the importance of radio and encourage decision-makers to use it for providing access to information. United Nations Radio was established on 13 February 1946, a date that became a natural choice to celebrate the mass-medium across the world. Prior to advent of the Internet and social media, radio was the most powerful means of mass communication in terms of its use in the adoption and diffusion of innovations.
In Ghana, World Radio Day coincided with what appeared to be an orchestrated plan by some political and pressure groups, including so-called journalists, to present Ghana globally as a country that is stifling freedom of expression. Whether planned or coincidental, the portrayal of Ghana as stifling freedom of expression came on the heels of a known political activist of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) openly inciting the security agencies to stage a military coup. Earlier in the year, a known TV morning show host of the Media General Group said on air and in social media that he would support a military coup in Ghana.
Last week, Oliver Barker-Vormawor – a former presidential staffer under the presidency of John Mahama and a leader of the pressure group “#FixTheCountry” – published on social media that he would stage a coup if the Parliament of Ghana passes the controversial E-levy. In January 2022, government tabled a policy proposing a 1.75% tax on electronic transactions, including mobile money payments, to increase domestic revenue mobilisation.
In his inflammatory statement on Facebook, Barker-Vormawor warned that “If this E-levy passes… I will do the coup myself”. His statement also included a provocative phrase – “useless army”. Clearly, Barker-Vormawor not only intended to mobilise forces for his coup but also cast a slur on the integrity of the Ghana Armed Forces for failing to respond to his paymasters’ desire to subvert the 1992 Constitution. To the contrary, I think men and women in the Ghana Armed Forces have earned an unparalleled record as the most disciplined and professional military body in Africa.
Quite expectedly, Barker-Vormawor was arrested by the police – and as the police noted after his arrest: “The post contained a clear statement of intent, with a possible will to execute a coup in his declaration of intent to subvert the constitution of the Republic of Ghana”.
Ghana-Guinea-Mali?
For some time now, some political activists have been mooting the idea of a military coup d’état with the obvious desire to destabilise Ghana. Some of these inflammatory comments have unfortunately been voiced by so-called journalists behind the consuls. These ‘coup dreamers’ or planners continually draw inspiration from recent military coups in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso. It is baffling, but not entirely surprising, that some political activists and journalists wish Ghana to down the line of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso with the intention of forcing an unconstitutional regime change.
It is becoming clear that once some politicians are not in power and not in control of Ghana’s resources, Ghana must burn. In this current constitutional arrangement, anyone who wants regime change through the gun is a criminal, period! And no one can hide under the cloak of ‘stifling freedom of expression’ to justify the criminal act of inciting a military takeover. But Ghana has come a long way in our democratic journey, and I am optimistic that we will sustain the roadmap of constitutional regime change.
Who is a journalist?
Under the Commonwealth Act, a ‘journalist’ means ‘a person who is active in the publication of news and who may be given information by an informant in the expectation that the information may be published in a news medium’. Other scholars explain journalism as the practice of producing and distributing accurate and reliable news on current affairs.
Journalism’s foundation as the production and publication of accurate accounts of events dates back many centuries when it became an industry and a profession. Besides, journalism was and is still expected to scrutinise the policies and actions of government, businesses or other influential spheres of society. In all my scholarly studies of journalism, instigating coups d’état is not documented anywhere as a cardinal role of journalism.
We need to clearly demarcate political communications from ‘political journalism’ in its current form in Ghana. The period 1790s to 1840s, marked the beginning of modernisation and liberalisation of democratic representation and significance of journalism. As the market became the interface between rulers and the ruled and the media and readers, newspapers became a critical platform for readers and the larger democratic process. Newspaper readers not only received more information and entertainment, they also had access to an influential printed word for political and social education.
Therefore, out of this combination of business, political activism and personal hazards, journalism emerged as an essential mechanism of modern societies. The mediator or representative role of journalism was thought to give citizens direct access to the public sphere in the form of readers’ letters to newspapers, phone-in contributions to broadcast talk-shows and participation in studio debates about public affairs.
‘Political journalism’ on the other hand – as we are witnessing in Ghana – amounts to the practice of ‘journalists’ supposedly accepting money from politicians to malign and blackmail political opponents. It amounts to the publication of half-truths and unsubstantiated reports in the name of appeasing their paymasters and ‘getting it first’. Politicians can pursue their dirty politics of telling lies, publishing fake news, inciting ethnic hatred, insulting chiefs and religious leaders – but when journalism descends to such levels it gives cause for worry.
More than ever, the public expects ‘news’ to be evidence gathered and verified by a professional journalist acting as a neutral observer. For this reason, journalists or broadcasters must clearly delineate their political affiliations from their work. Where journalists are expressing their personal views, it must be made clear to the audience. Anything short of that amounts to hiding behind journalism to pursue political and economic ends. Those who use the consul in the name of journalism, press freedom and freedom of expression and are urging the security agencies to destabilise the country are certainly not acting as journalists. When the law deals with such troublemakers and agitators, no one can claim that freedom of expression is under threat.
Certainly, the journalism I practiced between 1994 and 2009 is not what is unfolding now. The current brand of journalism is far from the journalism of information, education, enlightenment and empowerment. Rather than informing and educating, the current journalism has become a threat to national unity and stability.
Watchdog role
In the modern state’s development, the media (originally newspapers, then radio, television and now social media) played and will continue to play a fundamental role as a rallying point for national mobilisation and unity.
This age-old watchdog role of the journalist is what Edmund Burke described as the Fourth Estate in a functioning democracy. In his seminal speech to the British Parliament in the 1790s, Edmund Burke said: “There are three estates in Parliament, but there is a fourth estate in the reporter’s gallery more powerful than the rest”. Burke theorises the media and journalists as a watchdog, balancing the power of the clergy, aristocracy and commoners.
Such thinking underpins contemporary journalistic practice as independent and influential. But the so-called independence of the media must not be taken for granted. As a journalist, I can never countenance attempts to muzzle the press. I practiced journalism in the Rawlings eras, and I know what it means for journalists and the media to work under terrible conditions. As an investigative reporter for Ghanaian Chronicle, I had several encounters with military, police and government machinery in my reporting roles. We fought to attain the current press freedom, and we owe it as a duty to sustain it through maturity and responsibility.
FOI
One of the key conditions for a return to democratic rule in 1992 was the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the media and freedom of expression. In a 2014 report, UNESCO highlighted media freedom as one of the key dimensions of press freedom.
Key to assessing media freedoms are: the legal status of freedom of expression and press freedom, as well as how this is translated, or not, into practice; whether media are censored or banned/blocked; whether criminal defamation and other laws are used against media and journalists; and whether the profession is subject to licencing.
Against this backdrop, the prevailing legal and statutory environment in Ghana is more friendly and enabling than the previous eras. Aspects of the Criminal Libel laws that criminalise freedom of expression were repealed in 2001. Besides, Ghana is one of few developing countries to have passed the Freedom of Information (FOI) law. While direct censorship remains a challenge to journalists worldwide, I am not aware of any direct censorship in Ghana.
Media pluralism
Rather, media pluralism has become an evolving trend in Ghana. According to UNESCO, media pluralism is a matter of economic ownership and control as well as the diversity of journalistic content. Media pluralism is understood as enabling a wide range of social, political and cultural values, opinions and interests through public media platforms. Furthermore, the Internet, digitalisation and online-search capacities have enabled more people to participate in information production and news flows – though the adoption of social media platforms is raising more ethical journalism concerns.
Undoubtedly, Ghana has one of the most vibrant, independent and diverse media environments in Africa. Of particular interest to UNESCO is the value of press freedom for journalism, and the professional autonomy of those who produce content. In this regard, independence includes the state of professional ethics in practice which underpin quality journalism. But in the current dispensation, media and journalism ethics are raising more questions than answers. Objectivity, truth, accuracy and fairness have been largely traded for political partisanship. Consequently, news is now a hot commodity and often laden with insults.
Safety
Some interest groups have raised questions about the safety of journalists in Ghana, to the extent of some suggesting a return of the culture of silence. But these arguments have never been proved empirically. Admittedly, safety issues are relevant to independence since safety is a precondition for journalists to work without fear.
While safety is central to press freedom, and largely a mandate of the state in protecting media freedom, journalists and media have an equal responsibility to promote a congenial media environment. Rights come with responsibilities, for which reason no journalist or political activist should take the country’s interest for granted.
In that regard, political journalists or political activists who sacrifice professionalism for political expediency must be made to account for their actions. The fact remains that the independence of media must be matched with professionalism and responsibility. Nothing can change this normative principle of journalism.
Reference
UNSECO. 2014. World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development. UNESCO Publishing. Paris.
