Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication Kwame Karikari has backed the Ghana Journalists Association’s (GJA) prerogative to exercise discretion by choosing to black out or shun coverage of any newsmaker or public official whose conduct is considered disrespectful to the journalism profession.
In accordance with the provisions outlined in the 1992 Constitution, specifically Chapter 12, Article 162-167, which safeguards media independence, Professor Karikari asserts that the media is empowered to take punitive measures against any individual or institution found to be in violation of its principles.
He asserted that such a measure serves as a potent tool for the media to safeguard its integrity and uphold journalistic standards.
“For a minister to behave like that to any sector of the media without rectifying that action, then the politician deserves to be simply blacked out,” Professor Karikari said during a media engagement on February 12, 2024.
As far as politicians have the freedom to give coverage rights to selected media houses, GJA has the right to do the same, Prof. Karikari said.
Even though the blackout has come under scrutiny from individuals such as the Chairman of the National Media Commission, Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, who described it as “not the most productive reaction,”.
However, Prof. contends, “When you assault a journalist, you are telling the media, ‘We don’t want you,’ so what business does the media have rendering a service that you claim you do not want? So for me, the media blacking out anyone is within their right.”
In the last few weeks, two members of parliament, Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Minister Mavis Hawa Koomson and the Yendi MP, Farouk Aliu Mahama, have come under GJA’s media blackout following attacks on some media personnel during some electioneering activities.
The GJA directed journalists to avoid covering any activities involving the Awutu Senya East MP following an attack on a journalist allegedly by the MP’s thugs during the NPP’s parliamentary aspirants’ vetting in Cape Coast.
The Yendi MP, Farouk Aliu Mahama, has also been included in this total blackout after he was reported to have assaulted a Citi FM reporter during the NPP Parliamentary elections.
But information minister Kojo Opong Nkrumah has called on GJA to ensure that thorough investigations are carried out before the blackout policy is implemented.