Accra, Feb. 18, GNA – The Police cannot assume responsibility for responsible media practice in Ghana by scanning newspapers and news portals and arresting journalists for errors and misrepresentation, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has stated.
“Those who are so offended by such write-ups know what recourse they have. I am not for a moment holding brief for irresponsible and unprofessional conduct of journalists. I am simply saying that there is a cure for that in our current legal regime,” Mr Bagbin said when he addressed the launch of the Press Centre for the Parliamentary Press Corps in Accra.
The Facility, which is equipped with computers, would provide a congenial atmosphere for the members of the Parliamentary Press Corps to file their news stories timeously.
He said in his early days of legal practice, he had had the course to take some journalists to court using the rule of law, not the rule of man.
“I daresay that any attempt by politicians, hiding behind the Police institution, to act as the standard bearer of ethical and professional journalism, or the regulator of journalism practice in this country, is not only a pretender but also megalomaniac,” the Speaker said.
“The increasing tendency on the part of the Police to arrest journalists for what they describe as mistakes is old school, anachronistic and sending this country back into the dark ages of media persecution.”
Quoting Mr Booker T. Washinton, the Speaker said “Don’t find fault. Find a remedy”.
Mr Bagbin said: “As we all know, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err”.
He said oftentimes, media professionals in their quest to disseminate the information they had in a timely manner to beat the deadlines set for them, make mistakes; adding that they end up making some misrepresentations, at times impugning on the integrity and reputation of others.
The Speaker said the media space in Ghana’s legal regime anticipated this and had prescribed a way out.
“That is why we have the National Media Commission (NMC); and that is why this country has a plethora of laws on media and free speech.”
He said Parliament needed to urgently revise the NMC law to add teeth and resources for the Commission to be effective.
GNA