The former chairman of the electoral commission, Dr. Kwadjo Afari Gyan has bemoaned the incessant lack of understanding in reportages by the media during successive national elections in the country.
The veteran EC chairman who gave a presentation at the 4th media engagement by TV3 network Ghana limited and its partners dubbed the “The Accra Dialogue”.
Dr. Afari Gyan hit hard and audit the activities as well as the role of the Ghanaian media during each national Polls during his tenure as the electoral commissioner.
He chronicled series of event to buttressed his claims and observation stating that, though the media has done enough to consolidate the gains in the electoral system in the country, the press haven’t also done so well by their role in partnering the electoral body of the country.
He recounted a situation where some media persons hardly understood the dynamics of electoral matters but yet they were assigned by their outfit to report on electoral issues.
” There was a time that I went to Nima to curtail a very precarious problem where the media gave a bad reportage on a developing story, but upon further scrutiny I realized the situation was taken out of proportion by the journalist who aired what he termed as electoral irregularities, does the arrival of electoral materials at a polling station means irregularities ” He fumed!
The ace former boss of the EC retorted the media ought to be abreast with the mechanisms in the electoral system in order to give flesh and credibility to the entire process.
The Afari Gyan proposed and prescribed that, the media must be given routine education and capacity building for respective electoral reporters by the Commission and their media houses to fine tuned their broadcast ethics by undergoing series of training to sharpen their skills on the beat.
He stated mildly that, he is not surcharging the press wrongly, ridiculing the media on character assassination or reducing their ethical conduct on the basis of incompetent.
He aver that, the media are partners to Ghana’s electoral system and panacea for the country’s souring Democratic frontiers.
Nana Dogbe/ahotor online.com
