By Benjamin A. Commey
Accra, Oct 14, GNA – The National Media Commission (NMC) says Ghana needs a different tactics to tackle incessant attacks on media and journalists if the canker is to be eradicated.
According to the Commission, the current approach, which involved mediation between victims and culprits was counterproductive, adding that, it had emboldened more attacks on journalists.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsfile, on Saturday, monitored by the Ghana News Agency, Mr George Sarpong, Executive Secretary of the NMC, called for a more direct approach to tackling the canker.
“I think that we’ve gotten to that point where a certain directness should be our approach,” he said.
“At the NMC, we have come to the conclusion that, we’ve tried mediation in these matters, it has not helped the individuals, it has not helped the society, it has not helped the profession, it has also not changed behaviours, and therefore, all of us need to change approach,” he stressed.
Mr Sarpong was commenting on recent attacks on the media by some supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
About 30 supporters of the NPP, on Saturday, October 7, 2023, invaded the studio of United Television (UTV) and caused disruption to a live programme.
The incident led to the arrest of 16 of the invaders by the Ghana Police Service.
Barely, a week after the invasion, on Friday, October 13, 2023, a group of irate youth of the NDC attacked the Greater Accra Regional Office of the Party to render their displeasure over an intraparty electoral process in the Odododiodio Constituency.
They caused destruction to the Party’s office and assaulted a journalist with Accra-based Citi FM/TV.
Mr Sarpong noted that such attacks on the media continue to fester due to the soft approach in which such incidents had been handled.
“If you recall, one of the most dastardly attacks on media under the fourth republic, very early in the life of the Constitution was what we all referred to as ‘shit bombing’ of Kweku Baako’s offices. At the time, all of us were outraged because of the dirtiness of it and the attack, but even then, the perpetrators strode through the night to do so because they were afraid to own up to this really terrible behaviour.
“So, if people walk through a studio broad day light, I mean, in broad light, but also know that the cameras are on and did not fear to be captured on television and also make the case of claim that they made, it suggests to you that we are getting into an area that perhaps, we need to change tactics in terms of how we address these issues.
“I strongly believe that anybody who is involved in these things ought to be punished, but beyond that there is also the bigger question about how do we address the peculiar needs of victims of attacks,” he said.
Mr Manasseh Azure Awuni, an Investigative Journalist, speaking on the same programme, said all efforts should be directed at prosecuting the culprits of the attacks to serve as a deterrent to others with similar intentions.
GNA