Media must uphold election guidelines

The media’s responsibility in the growth and development of democracy any where in the world has never been doubt, particularly during an election. The ‘Word’, both written and spoken, is like a double-edged sword which could be used for either positive ends or adverse goals; that is why freedom of expression and of the press is guided by laws which seek to promote public good.

It was in the light of the above and other pertinent considerations that the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) tasked a Group of Eminent Persons to draft a set of Guidelines on Election Coverage for the upcoming elections in December; an exercise the team completed submitting its report to the GJA last Thursday in Accra. The eight-page document containing 20 guidelines have been commended by those who have had the opportunity to look at the document and hopefully would be accepted by all with marginal modifications.

Watchers of the political landscape have described the December 8 elections as very crucial with so much at stake and with pockets simmering tensions in certain constituencies nationwide. It is to help defuse these potential time bombs and to shepherd the elections to an end whose results cannot be disputed by anyone that the guidelines on election coverage were enunciated.

The Group of Eminent Persons did not develop the guidelines unilaterally; it worked in conjunction with the Electoral Commission (EC). The EC, according to the guidelines, concedes that the important complementary work of the media in the political process, and enjoins the media to act responsibly by providing balanced, fair, accurate and timely information on the electoral process.

While the guidelines have come at an opportune time and will ordinarily go along way to help achieve a successful election, the onus rests on the media to make it work. That calls for a hearty media commitment, in whose absence the potentially useful guidelines will remain a mere piece of document “signifying nothing”.

The Ghanaian media history is replete with cases of journalists flouting with impunity and violating with abundant recklessness the GJA Code, National Media Commission’s Guidelines for Political Reporting and relevant Constitutional provisions. Evidence abounds that these journalist committed these acts in order to political cause mischief but in the end they backfire as the orchestration boomerangs.

Thus until journalists resolve in their hearts to firmly commit themselves to the guidelines, uphold them by employing them in their reportage, and programmes on air those with diabolical intentions will run counter to the spirit and letter of the guidelines through their write-ups and pronouncements.

Similarly, it is equally incumbent on politicians to eschew “verbal diahoerroea” in order not to provide the ammunition for the media to embark on a political massacre. It is in this vein that both the NMC and GJA should continue to monitor the media terrain and call to order aberrant journalists.