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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged journalists to ensure that they do not sacrifice integrity and the future of society on the altar of an instant scoop or ill-considered publication.

He explained that the media should only be concerned about reporting the facts and not lend themselves to being bought or used to destroy the reputation of others.

President Akufo-Addo made the call when he opened a two-day African Journalists Leaders’ conference in Accra yesterday.

Conference

The conference, being organised by the Federation of African Journalists and hosted by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), is on the theme: “Building stronger unions to enhance journalism and media freedom”.

Delegates are drawn from the leadership of regional and national media organisations in Africa and they are, among other things, discussing strategies to shape the media industry on the continent, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which has dealt a terrible blow to jobs and media sustainability.


They will also examine the worrisome erosion of media freedom in many countries in Africa and propose practical measures to reverse the trend.

Delegates will also discuss the precarious working conditions of journalists, explore viable options to strengthen the bargaining capacity of journalist unions in Africa and come up with the Accra Declaration that will articulate the future direction of journalism in Africa.

Power

President Akufo-Addo gave the example of how a radio station in Rwanda fomented trouble and sustained it, leading to the killing of over 800,000 Rwandans.


He appealed to media practitioners in Africa to take a second look at the immense power they wielded and the responsibility they owed their societies and ensure that “they do not sacrifice integrity and the future of our societies on the altar of an instant scoop or ill-considered publication”.

Misinformation

The President urged the members of the inky fraternity to address the phenomena of misinformation campaigns and fake news which were, sometimes, unfortunately propagated by some in the mainstream media.

He also advised against the tendency to report on only one side of a story and pass judgement on it, without wanting to learn or give a fair amount of reportage to the other side, a move which stifled the truth.

Attack

President Akufo-Addo further expressed concern about what he called “emerging challenges to media freedom”, one of which was the attack on media freedom.

“It cannot be right, no matter where in the world, that journalists are physically attacked or prevented from doing their work. Once that happens, it is an attack on media freedom, and it must be roundly condemned by all,” he added.

He quoted the literary giant, George Orwell, who said: “Freedom of the press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticise and oppose”, saying, however, that there seemed to be an emerging narrative which was being proffered by some in Ghana.

President Akufo-Addo said the trend included critiquing the work of a journalist, which had been misconstrued as an attack on media freedom, adding: “That, certainly, cannot be described as an attack on media freedom.”

He said having the freedom to criticise and oppose should also mean that the media were ready to accept and work with criticisms of their work by the citizenry or officialdom.

“That, for me, is one of the surest ways of improving the public discourse,” he said.

Fight together

President Akufo-Addo commended the media on the African continent for the good job they had been doing during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic by informing the people, educating them and ensuring that they took the jabs.

He urged journalists to partner their governments to deal with issues such as terrorism and violent extremism, climate change and illicit flow of funds from Africa, estimated at $80 billion per annum.

He reiterated his belief that a vibrant and unfettered media was the most effective way to hold governments and society to standards of honesty, self-discipline and delivery.

Strategic

The President of the Federation of African Journalists, Mr Sadig Ibrahim, said a recent survey by the federation showed that African governments’ response to the economic impact of the pandemic had had a negative impact on the media sector and lacked specific measures to support media workers.

To ensure that the media emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger and more resilient, he said, there was the need for strategic alliances