Some of us couldn’t have survived all these years in journalism, particularly during the revolutionary days, if we had towed the lines of the modern day so-called journalists who have invaded the media landscape with poisonous and acidic venom.
They are uncouth, disrespectful, uncultured, raw, vexation to the spirit, reckless and not fit to dwell in the comity of civilized society. In fact, they are sick brains and opportunistic. Because of the polarization of the media in Ghana, everybody feels he or she can easily get employment in a media house and start messing around in the name of journalism.
When they are sacked from one media house for misbehaving, they find another job in another media house and continue to misbehave. To such idiotic individuals there are no dos and don’ts in journalism for them and so everything goes. In fact, they are so reckless in their comments that society sees them as deviants but they think they are acceptable because few politicians who are their paymasters and who gain from their misguided zeal praise them anytime they fool around. They continue to lose their reason.
Sometimes, I feel offended when called a journalist because of the way the profession has been bastardized by a few upstarts who are clamoring for recognition and visibility. I prefer to be called a columnist because not all columnists are journalists and not all journalists are columnists. I simply want to distinguish myself from the chaff.
What has made the situation worse is the role of politicians in the destruction of this noble profession which is the 4th Estate of the realm in the scheme of things. Money has taken control and professional etiquette has been thrown to the dogs. When they seriously goof, they think it is simply one of the journalistic peccadilloes.
My generation of journalists is made up of fine ladies and gentlemen who stormed the media space with intellectual finesse and thought-provoking write-ups which withstood and continue to washstand the test of time.
Talk about Mr. Kojo Yanka, Cameron Duodu, Madam Adjoa Yeboah Afari, Kwaku Baako Jr., Madam Elizabeth Ohene, Haruna Atta, Ambassador Gina Blay, Kwasi Biney and a host of them and you will understand what I am writing about.
Those who are sitting on television and radio stations, swaggering and basking in borrowed cloths are not journalists but clowns, jesters and tricksters who are out there to tarnish the hard-won reputations of people for monetary consideration. They are simply engaged in Galamsey in the media. In fact, they do not have honour nor recognition in relevant quarters.
Today, journalism has been caught in the grip of charlatans who strut the media landscape with impunity. Compare them to the Wagner Mercenaries fighting in Ukraine and you will not be far from right. They are romantic mercenaries of Eros who think money and the good things in life are what are required to make a journalist respected and acceptable in society.
Engage them in any intellectual discourse and you will see that they are empty, if not good for nothing. They are hirelings whose stock in trade is insults and boisterous polemics. They spew out nothing but rubbish. They should be thankful to former President Kufuor and his then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Nana Akufo Addo for repealing the Criminal Libel Law from our status books. A lot of them would have been in jail by now for defaming innocent people. Let them ask Kwaku Baako and Haruna Atta who spent some time in prison for their alleged libelous publications when Rawlings was in power and the CLL was in full operation. Dr. Obed Asamoah, who undoubtedly crafted the Criminal Libel Law had told Ghanaians that the CLL will be repealed over his dead body. He did not take it lightly because the Ghanaians journalists pent-up desire for freedom of speech to air their views was burning like wild fire.
Those of us who wrote extensively against the pronouncement of the good old lawyer and former Attorney General and Minister of Justice under the (P)NDC did not envisage that a time will come when verbal terrorists with unbridled mouths will take the center stage and disturb our peace. Today, some of us regret championing the cause for the repeal of the CLL.
If you listen to Presenters like Omanhene Kwabena Asante, Kwame Sefa Kayi, Randy Abbey, Paul Adom Okyere and a few others on air and you compare them to certain rubble-rousers who parade as journalists and presenters, you will realize that there is a vast difference between the two groups.
Take for example the following reckless journalism portrayed by this braggart called Captain Smart who is actually not smart enough.
Three ladies were kidnapped and killed in Takoradi and the nation was traumatized. As we were grieving, another lady got missing and it was presumed that she was also kidnapped.
The lady later immerged from her hiding place and said she was pregnant when she was kidnapped and that the pregnancy had aborted. Thorough investigation by the police and other security agencies indicated that the lady feigned everything that she said.
The Western Regional Minister was briefed and the gentleman came out to tell the world what the real story was. Captain Smart became peeved, went on air and with the fury of a wounded lion, told Ghanaians that he knew the lady, her husband and even her family and that the lady was actually pregnant and that she was kidnapped. He ungentlemanly said the Regional Minister was foolishly acting like a politician from the Northern Region. May be John Mahama, his paymaster comes from Cape Coast, where the whiteman first pitched his camp. Think about this absolute balderdash! As if politicians from the Northern Region are worthless and dunderheads. And we had some people, particularly NDC MPs from the Northern Region clapping for him for making that stupid comment!
The Lady later confessed that indeed, she feigned everything and she was arranged before court. Instead of apologizing and begging Ghanaians for misleading the public, he treated the issue with contempt and continues to swagger on air. He deleted shamelessness from his lexicon and thought Ghanaians will soon forget about his goof.
Do you think the said fine journalists I mentioned above will ever stoop so low? You see, good journalists lay much premium on truth and accuracy because if you go wayward like the way Captain Smart did, you lose respect, dignity and trust. Even when you tell the truth another day, people take it with a pinch of salt.
It is only those who follow their stomach that do such things. To them money is everything. Poor souls! They don’t think about the future of their children who will one day grow up to hear the mess that their fathers caused and live with the fear that the sins of their fathers will visit them.
In fact, these irresponsible journalists cannot distinguish between being popular and being notorious. When people clap for them, they think they are popular. They cannot withstand the test of time. Good journalists in Ghana have been awakened to danger and called to defend themselves.
I am a self-appointed defender of journalism and I am on the prowl for those who intend to destroy this noble profession. If any irresponsible journalist thinks I cannot bite, he or she should look at my teeth. Excuse me while I refill my Parker fountain pen with Lion Ink, made in United Kingdom where the Queen’s language is spoken!
Eric Bawah