Chaos on the airwaves

By Kofi Akordor
One of the glorious things the 1992 Constitution did for us was the way it stripped naked, the myth surrounding freedom of expression and media pluralism and in the process, let loose, the vocal chords of every Ghanaian who wants to express him/herself on any matter agitating his/her mind.
Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution talks extensively about the Freedom and Independence of the Media. Article 162 (1) says: “Freedom and independence of the media are hereby guaranteed”. Article 162 (2) makes clear that: “Subject to this Constitution and any other law not inconsistent with this Constitution, there shall be no censorship in Ghana”.
On private media ownership, Article 162 (3) was quite emphatic: “There shall be no impediments to the establishment of private press or media; and in particular, there shall be no law requiring any person to obtain a licence as a prerequisite to the establishment or operation of a newspaper, journal or other media for mass communication or information.
Of course there is nothing like absolute freedom. So Article 164 of the Constitution reminds us that: “The provision of articles 162 and 163 of this Constitution are subject to laws that are reasonably required in the interest of national security, public order, public morality and for the purpose of protecting the reputations, rights and freedoms of other persons”.
What seems to be some form of restrictions placed on the right of the citizen to freedom of expression have somehow been restored under Article 165, which says: “For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of this Chapter shall not be taken to limit the enjoyment of any of the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under Chapter Five of this Constitution”.
Chapter Five of the 1992 Constitution in 22 Articles spells out the fundamental human rights and freedoms of all Ghanaians and all those who come under the protection of the Constitution.
To eliminate any doubt about the freedom of any media practice in the country, Article 173 of Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution states clearly that: ”Subject to Article 167 of this Constitution”, (which spells out the functions of the National Media Commission), “the National Media Commission shall not exercise any control or direction over the professional functions of a person engaged in the production of newspapers or other means of communications”.
With all these constitutional freedoms and guarantees, the gates were opened to allow an avalanche of media institutions to flood the media landscape. The monopoly that the state-owned media institutions used to enjoy vanished and the Graphic Corporation, now Graphic Communications Group Limited, New Times Corporation, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and Ghana News Agency have to compete on the media market with private newspapers, radio and television stations for attention and patronage.
Media practitioners generally, especially those working with the state-owned media, could seek protection to a large extent under the provisions of the Constitution to escape from the interference and sanctions which were associated with the practice in the past.
Professional media practitioners who in the past were constrained by job opportunities now have opportunities opened to them as a result of the emergence of many media organisations.
The greatest beneficiaries, however, are the people of Ghana who now have the freedom to choose from a multiplicity of both electronic and print media. They also have access to limitless information which is available from different sources. What was considered secret or guarded information yesterday has become common knowledge today as it is commonly said nobody holds monopoly over any public information any longer.
Governments which manipulated the media in the past and suppressed vital information for obvious reasons have gradually come to the realisation that those days are gone and that the best they could do is to get their explanations ready for a demanding public that is yearning for answers to their queries.
The biggest explosion was witnessed in the field of radio broadcasting which saw a massive invasion of Frequency Modulation (FM) radio stations on the country’s airwaves. Radio stations are easier and cheaper to manage and they have a vast audience who do not pay for their services.
In a country where adult illiteracy is still very high, the radio stations which broadcast their programmes in the local languages in addition to the official English language, offer cheap and easily accessible avenues for news and entertainment. That, in addition to the high cost of newspaper production, means the radio stations have competitive urge over the print media in terms of coverage and patronage.
All these are good for the country’s infant democracy. Media freedom especially the proliferation of radio stations also means that information has been demystified. It works both ways. While the government can reach the vast majority of the people simultaneously, the governed can also reach government in no time. In short, a well-informed public is in a better position to confront national issues and articulate their views in a more objective manner. But there is always a price to pay for anything that is freely available.
The media generally has their own problems, ranging from poorly trained personnel to market forces which determine cost and quality. Suffice it to say the radio stations have come with their own loads of problems some of which continue to pose a serious threat to the democracy which brought them to life and which in all their endeavours they will claim they are protecting and defending.
It seems in our zeal to embrace the newly won freedom granted us by the 1992 Constitution, most of the radio stations have shifted greatly from professionalism to commercialism. That might explain why most of the owners do not pay serious attention to those who they employ to work on the stations. A lot of the people who address the Ghanaian public on the airwaves do so simply because they could talk and make noise. Whether in the English language or the local dialects, a lot of us do not know what they are about. Their only passion is to talk and talk all day. A lot do not know the difference between news and commentaries. They do not know when to be serious and when to crack jokes. What could be a private or personal trivia are let loose on listeners who cannot complain.
Those who broadcast in the local languages are on a different wavelength altogether. You cannot tell who they want to impress, but they end up inflicting a combination of Twi and English on poor listeners. To the general public, all these characters are professional broadcast journalists. What a good way to cheapen a noble profession.
With all the good things the radio stations are doing, they still remain a potential source of friction, conflict, confrontation and disintegration if we continue to play the ostrich game and do not streamline the operations of the radio stations.
We are constantly being reminded of the experiences of others, especially the Rwandan genocide case, which is quite fresh, but as usual, we want to believe that we are different from others and, therefore, damn the consequences.
I am making reference to the manner we have turned the radio stations into battle grounds where it is not even ideas that are competing, but emotions, insults and lies that are vying for attention. Most of the owners of the radio stations do not care about professionalism and, therefore, recruit people for their ability to make noise and crack unnecessary jokes to attract attention. As a result, serious programmes which otherwise should have attracted sober discussions by well-informed and knowledgeable people have been turned into campaign platforms for politicians to pollute the air with insults and unfounded allegations.
It is difficult to avoid doing politics, especially in an environment that have been starved for so long of multiparty democracy. But it should still be easy for us to tell what healthy politics is and what the harbingers of national destruction are.
Most of our presenters and commentators in the name of informing, feed their audience with wild allegations, accusations and downright lies packaged as news. The other thing is the way the airwaves are being bombarded with profanities in the name of entertainment.
The phone-in segments which are to serve as feedback mechanism and to encourage audience participation in radio programmes are becoming chaotic and sometimes dangerous. Media freedom just like multiparty democracy has come to stay. Freedom of expression does not only enrich good governance; it sustains all the other freedoms and rights enshrined in the Constitution and so it must be jealously guarded. We do not need to spend the whole day insulting and shouting at one another to yield the benefits of press freedom and freedom of expression.

fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com