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Journalists stranded at AU Summit
Accra, July 1, GNA - The Ninth African Union Summit on
Sunday took off in Accra with some amount of protocol
hitches characterized by what observers described as
unacceptable frustration of journalists duly accredited to
cover the summit.
In spite of wielding two separate accreditations - one for
security passage and the other for access into the main
conference hall - over 300 journalists, mostly from the
international media, were confounded, amidst protest, to the
media center to source their reportage from Ghana Television
commentaries.
As if that was not enough, the television screens mounted
for journalists to source their reportage went off just at
the start of the opening ceremony of the summit and stayed
off for some five minutes, leaving journalists completely
out of the action in the summit.
Meanwhile other visitors to the media center such as
exhibitors and restaurant operators competed with
journalists for space, tables and chairs, making it even
more difficult for journalists to work effective at the
media center.
The situation left journalists with no option than to write
a petition that raised at least 200 signatures from both the
local Ghanaian and international press to register their
protest.
When the Ghana News Agency contacted Mr. Frank Agyekum,
Ghana Government Spokesperson on Governance, who was at the
media center, he stated that it had been made clear from day
one that only cameramen and women would be allowed into the
conference hall and that all other reporters were to source
their reportage from the TV screens in the media center.
But journalists who had been at the conference center from
June 25, 2007 when the pre-summit meetings started could
confirm that it had been difficult laying hands on any of
the media and communication coordinators of the summit to
get information from them.
Mrs Janet Narh, from BEN TV in London, who led journalists
to write the petition and raise signatures, noted that on
Saturday, journalists were told at a press briefing that
only 150 of them, comprising 50 from Ghana and 100 from the
international press, would be allowed into the conference
hall, "but for whatever reason everything changed this very
morning without any prior notice to us."
"I think they regard journalists at trash and that is
unfortunate because if the union government is about the
masses and journalists who are supposed to inform the masses
are cut out in this manner then we are not serious about
seeking the people's interest," she said.
Mrs. Narh noted that "this kind of treatment from African
(bodies) is becoming very frustrating and unacceptable,
especially for the international media, who had spent large
sums of money to bring their reporters to Accra to cover the
summit only to be told to source their report from some TV
commentator".
"With this kind of situation it would be difficult for
reporters to file comprehensive and cohesive reports from
the summit," she said.
Other reporters complained that from the start of the
pre-summit meetings, journalists had been treated as if they
did not matter to the summit at all. Several attempts to get
a press briefing from the media coordinators from both the
Ghanaian and AU side proved futile.
Meanwhile other protocol hitches manifested in the form of
lack of coordination among security details for the summit
and those for the individual Heads of State.
While the security details of individual Heads of State
insisted on entering the conference hall with their
respective Heads of state the AU security physically
prevented them at the entrance.
All that notwithstanding, the Heads of State, foreign
ministers, first ladies and guests arrival at the conference
center was amidst tight security, with some of the vehicles
of some being heavily guarded by several men on foot.
At the main entrance of the conference center there was a
long cue of dignitaries who had to go through very strict
protocol and security procedures before gaining access to
witness the opening ceremony.
Several roads surrounding the environs of the conference
center were closed making traffic very light in the township
of Osu.
Added to the reasons for the road blockage was the AU Milo
Marathon and the National Cycle Race, which terminated at
the Independence Square, also within the environs of the
conference center.
GNA
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