President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged the media to desist from the unethical practice of misinforming the public and learn to retract and apologise for wrong publications.
Mr Akufo-Addo expressed worry that in some cases, even after the public has been misled and the true facts emerge, the “media often chicken out on an honest, open, acknowledgment that we erred”.
He pointed out that: “The response is often a refusal to apologize or sweep it under the carpet and move on to the next big story”.
Nana Akufo-Addo made the comments at the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) annual conference in the Western Region on Monday, 9 September 2019.
He stated that politicians are not the only people susceptible to mistakes but media practitioners, like all other humans, can also make mistakes, “and when they do, they should have the humility to acknowledge their error and not have their misdeeds atoned under the guise of media freedom”.
In his opinion, “irresponsible media practice is an abuse of the freedom of expression”.
Mr Akufo-Addo also condemned the mushrooming of media outlets that publish information without verification and called for stringent regulation.
“Deliberate misinformation campaign which in itself are not new in politics and war have now gained added currency with the proliferation of media channels including social media, a major threat to the integrity of the news world as we have known it, has thus emerged.
“Also, the publication of unverified threats in a haste to be first to break so-called news is a very worrying threat that must be checked by regulators and media practitioners alike,” he stated.
The President also described as sad and unfortunate the description of the murder of Tiger Eye PI’s investigative reporter, Ahmed Hussein-Suale, as an attack on the media while assuring that the perpetrators would be brought to book.
Source: classfmonline.com
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Who killed Ahmed? Tell us now!!!
Ghana will never develop with these mentalities of unending investigations, selective justice for ***barred word*** etc. Here is Ablakwah, who was very much into the payment of the tax payers money of USD20 million to an imaginary ISOFOTON. How much he received only God knows. The same Ablakwah was stealing the tax payers money in the form of double salary for four years.The same ***barred word*** Ablakwah went and deceived the Metro Mass Transport bus and duped the company over GC1.5 million and the company is collapsing. Over GhC200,000 was stolen from Ablakwah's car; where did he get the money from and this is money laundering. What else is preventing Amidu, the courts, and even some good private lawyers who want to protect the national purse for putting this corrupt ***barred word*** to jail? Is it that we are not serious as a country? NPP is very disappointing we expected more that this from them. Dzifa Ativor for example, what else evidence is required to prosecute her? And the one talking Fosu Kwakye where did he get the money from to buy two mansions in Trassaco? These are all the causes of the xenophobia in SA and we are blaming the suppressed and the de-privileged common South Africans. The xenophobia is just an early warning for bigger things to happen here on the continent even though the politicians are diverting their attention from their incompetence and failures and nicknamed their failures as xenophobia. Nana must wake up!!!!!!