Resist presure to cover corruption issues for personal gain’

Published in the Daily Graphic on 30/11/2009, pg 38

Story: Matilda Attram
The Director of the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana, Dr Audrey Gadzekpo, has observed that although there is a high level of reportage on corruption-related issues, there is the need for the media to resist the pressure to report on what is only beneficial to political and private interest.
She said the Ghanaian media coverage of corruption-related issues was mostly tinged with political partnership which only manifested in one-sided articles that promoted a parochial political agenda rather than the larger public agenda.
Dr Gadzekpo made the observation at one-day workshop to enhance the capacity of journalists on investigative reporting and corruption reportage in Accra on Tuesday.
The workshop was organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) to assess the performance of the Ghanaian media on covering corruption related issues.
Dr Gadzekpo said: “Some stories, especially stories of allegations of corruption by and against politicians or government officials, lacked credibility because they were not evidenced-based. Not only because they reported only a single source but because few facts were provided to help readers to determine the veracity of claims being made in the story”.
Reacting to the release of the Corruption Perception Index with Ghana scoring 3.9 per cent in fighting corruption, Dr Gadzekpo encouraged participants to work hard to intensify strategies used in the fight against corruption.
She entreated journalists to build their capacity for follow-up stories, as well as build a stronger source base that would help them broaden their knowledge and perspectives to be credible in reporting corruption-related issues.
Dr Gadzekpo stressed the need to address resource constraints that were obstacles to effective investigative reporting in the country.
Addressing the opening session of the workshop, the Executive Secretary of GACC, Mrs Florence Dennis, revealed that the GACC was a cross-sectional group of public, private and civil society organisations which sought to build a national effort to confront the problem of corruption and which devised effective control measures to fight the cause.
She said as watchdogs of the society, the media was expected to monitor, inform and investigate the actions of those who were granted public trust and those who might be tempted to abuse their office for private gains.
She said as the fourth estate of the realm, the media should promote democracy, transparency and accountability.
Mrs Dennis said it was the major responsibility of the media to keep surveillance over society and ensure that both the Government and the governed who engaged in wrongdoing were exposed.
“In the anti-corruption movement, the media is considered as one of the “pillars of integrity. The media provides an important counterpoint to the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, shedding light on the wrongdoing of public office holders and corporate executives alike ”, she stated.
Mrs Dennis further stressed the need for the provision of independent and adequate investigative journalism skills for media practitioners to help navigate the complex status of highly sophisticated corruption crimes in the country.
“The political leadership of a nation desirous of fighting corruption must ensure that legislation is put in place to ensure free and unfettered press; journalists must, therefore, have the necessary training to obtain facts and figures to blow the whistle on corruption”, she said.
In his remarks, a former President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Kabral Blay Amihere, urged journalists and editors to place emphasis on the quality of news stories provided and the impact these would make on society.