“Don’t Sacrifice Your Integrity For Today’s Headline” – President Akufo-Addo To Journalists
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo, has urged journalists and media practitioners across the
country take a second look at the power they wield, and the
responsibility they owe society, with a view to ensuring that they do
not sacrifice integrity and the future of our societies for today’s
headline or breaking news.
According to President Akufo-Addo, media owners in-particular must invest continuously in building the capacity of their staff.
“The media has immeasurable power to build up the
confidence and values of our society and its institutions, and,
therefore, ought to be assisted in being on top of its game at all
times,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo made this known on Friday, 3rd
August, 2018, when he spoke at the 12th congregation ceremony of the
Ghana Institute of Journalism.
Stressing the importance of the media to the
political, social and economic architecture of the country, the
President noted that, like many other good things, the work of the media
has its own associated risks and inherent challenges, especially in
this age of social media.
With the first challenge being the risk of deliberate
misinformation campaigns by some elements in the democratic space,
President Akufo-Addo indicated that this is a major threat to the
integrity of the news world.
“It is not something to be left only to regulators to
deal with. It is something that the whole world of media practitioners,
including you members of the graduating class, must resolutely
confront, and assist the society to identify and eliminate,” he said.
The need for training, critical engagement by society
with the media, self-regulation, and insistence on media ethics and
journalistic standards by media houses, practitioners and their
organizations, he added, is the way of addressing the current
shortcomings and ills of the media landscape.
The second risk, President Akufo-Addo, indicated is
that of inadvertent misinformation, that is sometimes published by
mainstream media.
“This happens when there is a little twist of facts
often to get the best headline, or a publication of the unverified claim
in the haste to be first in breaking the news,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo continued, “The worrying trend
is that, in many cases, even after the public has been misinformed, and
the true facts are later made known, mainstream media often chickens out
of an honest open acknowledgement that ‘we were wrong’. The choice is
often to sweep it under the carpet, and move on to the next big story.”
The President encouraged media owners, in particular,
to invest continuously in building the capacity of their staff, as the
media has immeasurable power to build up the confidence and values of
society and its institutions.
He reiterated Government’s commitment towards
empowering the citizen, media and civil society, and assured that the
Right to Information Bill, which is in Parliament, will be passed.
President Akufo-Addo assured GIJ of Government’s
commitment towards the development of the infrastructural capacity of
the institution, a move, he said, would help in providing space for the
increased student population who, in the next couple of years, will be
seeking admission to this institution, as a result of the Free Senior
High School policy.
“An initial, modest amount of GH¢5 million has been
allocated to GIJ in the 2018 budget, and the least I can do is to make
sure that GETFund releases this money to you as soon as possible to help
complete the first of many lecture hall complexes and offices here,” he
said.
To members of the graduating class, President
Akufo-Addo urged them to “be the generation of Ghanaian media
practitioners that refuses to be either victim or pawn, and accepts to
travel down the path of genuine popular enlightenment, which represents
the strongest guarantee of our national independence and sovereignty.
Freedom of expression, encompassing media freedom, is a critical element
of that journey, which you must help guard jealously at all times.”
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