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Refocusing the media agenda
A GNA Feature by Mohammed Nurudeen Issahaq
Accra, May 13, Ghanadot/GNA -
Tradition now has it that each year, the
month of May be devoted to the performance of the
press and the challenges of
journalism worldwide, with May 3rd observed specifically
as World Press Freedom Day.
This time, therefore, is appropriate for some appraisal on
the
role of the press/media in our national history, and some
reflection
on how the power of the mass media can be channelled towards
the socio-economic development of
this nation of ours.
It is unfortunate that the press has over the years earned a
negative reputation from members of the same society it has
served so selflessly. This
pejorative image, however, does not change the fact
that the press once had its proud/gallant moments
which the following recap intends
to expose for the benefit of the younger generation,
especially, and all other interested readers at
large. This generation, and
particularly the present crop of journalists, need to
know the circumstances that shaped the journalism
profession in the country, and the
reason for the relationship that currently exists
between the mass media and officialdom.
The Historical Perspective:
History holds that the then Gold Coast press played a
pivotal
role in our nation's struggle for emancipation from colonial
rule.
Like the story in other parts of British West Africa, the
genesis of
Ghanaian journalism (and for that matter, the Ghanaian
press) can be traced to early
missionary literature and, most significantly,
official gazettes and government-operated publications
during the days of British
occupation.
Ali Mazrui, the reputed Kenyan writer and scholar, remarks
that
"It is not for nothing that the word for newspaper in
Swahili is
'gazeti'. The Adam and Eve of newspapers in Africa were
government gazettes."
It began in Sierra Leone in 1801 with the
publication of
the Royal Gazette. Twenty-one years later in 1822 Ghana
(then Gold Coast) followed with
the publication of the Gold Coast Gazette.
The colonial press in the Gold Coast was, however,
ethnocentric
in orientation and content, and tended to work for the
preservation of the political
status quo. It was essentially an organ for satisfying
the information needs of the colonial administrators and
other
European settlers, who remained European in outlook. News of
the
Metropolis (London) dominated the external reports while
news of the expatriates' exploits
occupied the principal place in internal
affairs. For all practical and journalistic purposes, the
indigenous
population did not exist. Their social, cultural, political
and
economic aspirations were simply ignored.
This exclusion of the native majority from the colonial news
system did not just accentuate local discontent, but also
created an information vacuum that
had to be filled.
The existence of a press primarily operated by Europeans
convinced the local elite that it was important to have
their own
press to reflect their own opinions and desires.
Thus the Black Nationalist Press in the Gold Coast was born
in
response to the exigencies of the moment. Its rebellious
agenda was a cumulative reaction
to the oppressive and patronizing attitude of the
colonial rulers.
In his book Muffled Drums (1971) W.A. Hachten
submits
that indigenous English-language press developed in British
West
Africa first to publicise grievances and criticise the
British rulers.
"Later, it became a political weapon in the struggle for
nationalism,
to facilitate the organisation of political parties, and
finally to
win independence itself." And from the perspective of
Ziegler and
Asante (1992), the indigenous African newspapers of this era
were
political and spoke out on issues related to the rights of
Africans.
"...Thus Africans were galvanised toward independence and
freedom by the media."
These developments in the Gold Coast, just as in other
African
colonies, presented a situation in which colonialism gave
birth to
nationalism which eventually overthrew it. Looking at the
trend, one cannot but acknowledge
also that the press and political power have
influenced each other since the dawn of our history.
The press gave to nationalism its
prime means of diffusion, the medium through which the
idea could be disseminated. Nationalism in turn gave
to the press its principal
message, its raison d'etre, in extending its circulation.
The Nouveau Elite and Ex-Combatants:
Just as the colonial officials had used it to propagate
their
imperialist ideas, so did the country's early elite use the
press to
convey their own protest against colonial domination.
Another
important development which changed the course of history in
the Gold Coast during that period
was the return of brilliant young men who had
been pursuing further studies in Europe and America.
Some of these
returnees had been exposed to the ideas of Marcus Garvey,
Martin Luther King, and other
civil rights activists. Dennis Austin (1964)
observes that these returnees were "the first seed of
nationalist thought that brought
about the formation of the earliest political
movements." One such movement was the United Gold
Coast Convention (UGCC) launched
in 1947 by Willie Grant, J.B. Danquah, and R.C. Blay.
Those young intellectuals added vim and momentum to the
nationalist struggle through their radical ideas. The
contents of the
indigenous newspapers took on a bolder tone. "The Western
Echo," "The Gold Coast People,"
and "The Accra Herald" (which later became The
West Africa Herald) established in 1857, all became
channels for the hitherto
voiceless indigenous population to express their discontent
against the colonial authorities. Existing much
earlier than the above-mentioned
publications; was the "Royal Gold Coast Gazette and
Commercial Intelligencer," a handwritten gazette
launched in Accra in 1822.
There was also the "Royal Gold Coast Gazette"
(1852), the "Gold
Coast News" (1885), and "Gold Coast Herald" (1886). By 1900,
about 20 of such local newspapers,
most of them handwritten, had occurred in
the Gold Coast. And there was one characteristic they
all had in common - the
anti-colonial tone of their content.
The era between 1900 and 1940 saw a further proliferation of
small indigenous newspapers in the Gold Coast as cocoa and
gold
production brought prosperity, and more people became
literate. A good number of the
emerging elite started their own newspapers. Among them
were J.E. Casely Hayford and Atto Ahuma, who founded
the "Gold Coast Aborigines". There
was also J.B. Danquah who launched the "West Africa
Times" in 1931. The Times was the first daily
newspaper in West Africa to carry
regular international news from Reuters.
The arrival of Kwame Nkrumah on the scene, and the
establishment
of his paper, "The Evening News" in 1948, marked an
important
watershed in Ghana's press/political history. Says Frank
Barton
(1979): "When The Graphic appeared in Accra, a young
political
firebrand not long back from university in the United States
was
editing the highly volatile Evening News. He was Kwame
Nkrumah, leader of the Convention
People's Party (CPP)." And in a related submission,
Dennis Austin (op cit.) also states that at the end
of 1947 a new actor appeared on
the scene, who was "destined not only to dominate
the events of the years that followed his return to
the Gold Coast, but to destroy the
UGCC as a political force".
The return to civilian life, of a group of dissatisfied
ex-servicemen recruited into the Royal West African
Frontier Force (RWAFF) during the
Second World War added fuel and momentum to
nationalist activity in the Gold Coast at the time.
It did not take long before an
alliance was forged between the intelligentsia of the
UGCC, which had emerged as a dominant political
movement, and the
aggrieved ex-servicemen. The two groups found solidarity in
their
opposition to, and mutual dissatisfaction about, the
prevailing
political, social and economic circumstances of the moment.
Hence, the agitation of the
aggrieved ex-servicemen, coupled with radical
political demands advanced by the intelligentsia, kindled
the flame of nationalism in the
Gold Coast and set the liberation struggle there on
an irreversible course during the late1940s and early
1950s.
The Clamp-down and the Rebound:
The initial reaction of the colonial authorities in the Gold
Coast towards the indigenous newspapers was to dismiss them
as crude and insignificant.
However, they soon realised that by propagating
opinions favourable to the course of the nationalist
leaders, the press was capable of
inciting the people and threatening the whole
basis of colonial power. As a result, the colonial
officials began to subject the
Gold Coast press to arbitrary and harsh control measures.
Throughout 1950, there was a procession of victims in and
out of the Accra and Kumasi
prisons, among them T. Hutton Mills and K.O. Quashie
of the Evening News. Wilcox (1975) relates that in
1950, the colonial administration
banned the Accra Evening News and arrested its editors
for sedition. "The paper, started by the Convention
People's Party, was a major
vehicle for nationalist thought." So it can be seen now
where successive African political leaders got their
ideas about gagging the media
from. Interestingly, Azikiwe, Nkrumah, Nyerere,
Kaunda, Kenyatta, and a number of other first
generation rulers in
post-independence Africa, had used the press to wage the
liberation struggle in their
countries and were, therefore, very much aware of
its inherent power.
Now back on track. The clamp down by the colonial
administrators turned out to be a catalyst rather
than a deterrent.
The press became even more hard-hitting as nationalists'
activities
reached a crescendo. For instance, the "Evening News" which
was the mouthpiece of Nkrumah's
CPP published in its edition of Thursday,
December 15, 1949 a declaration by the party's
leader: "...the British Government
has tactfully refused to grant the country her true and
legitimate demand for self-government ...The people
of this country will be waiting
patiently for two weeks from today, 15th December,
1949 during which the British Government might
announce through the Governor, the
acceptance of the principle of a Constituent Assembly to
be implemented without delay; otherwise, Positive
Action may be declared any time
after the said two weeks." (Austin, 1964:88).
Obviously, in the view of the colonial authorities, Nkrumah
had
begun to fly too high for he did declare 'Positive Action'
on Sunday,
8th January 1950. A general stoppage of work ensued
throughout the colony and people
took to the streets. The colonial government issued
orders for the arrest of Nkrumah and five other
nationalist leaders (later known
in Ghana's political history as the Big Six), accusing
them of having incited revolt. To a very large
extent, they had indeed rendered
the colony ungovernable for the authorities, and for that
they were apprehended and placed in detention.
While in prison, Nkrumah continued to guide his party and
its
followers through his writings, which were smuggled out and
published in the party newspaper.
Nkrumah's imprisonment turned out to be a
blunder on the part of the authorities, as his
popularity and that of the CPP
soared. His party won a great victory in the 1951 elections.
Consequently, he was released and appointed Leader of
Government Business by the
colonial Governor. This victory won by the CPP was
repeated later in two subsequent elections, the 1954
polls and the decisive 1956
general election which led to the granting of full
independence on 6th March 1957.
These events are a confirmation of the vital role the press
played in the liberation process in the Gold Coast, and the
subsequent creation of the modern
state of Ghana.
However, one may ask: "After its praise-worthy performance
in the
overthrow of the colonial master, what became of the press
in
post-independence Ghana?" Knowing very well what the press
was capable of doing, the
nationalist leaders, who had now taken over the mantle
of leadership as Africa's first post-independence
rulers, decided to kick away the
ladder they had used to climb to pinnacle of political
power. They began to hound the press and journalists
in a bid to bringthem under control. On this point Barton
observes that the African press in
the immediate pre-independence era was a strong advocate for
political change but that when that change
materialized, the relationship
between the press and liberation leaders now in power
became estranged. "Rather than the hunter, the press
became the hunted."
(Barton,1979:16). However, that is an entirely different
area which time would not permit
us to delve into now.
Paradigm Shift:
The key point about this lengthy journey back into our past
is
that the press which so gallantly spearheaded the country's
liberation struggle and onward
march to political independence is also capable of
championing the cause of economic emancipation, given
the determination and focus. This
resetting of the Ghanaian media agenda
could begin with government demonstrating its
commitment to creating an enabling
environment by refraining from any discriminatory attitude
towards any sections of the media. According equal
recognition and support to both
state-owned and private media and allowing the
provisions enshrined in Chapter 12 of the 1992
Constitution alone to work.
The Government must refrain from categorizing any section of
the media as anti-us or pro-them.
This would help to build trust between the
Government and the media, as well as instil some
level of sanity in the practice of
journalism. The other issue of import is to improve
the conditions of service of journalists in the
country so that poverty does not
drive them into the hands of unscrupulous
politicians.
Again, resetting the nation's media agenda would also
require
journalists to depart from the undue politicization of the
media and
to pertinent national issues. We live in an era when it has
become
extremely difficult to distinguish between a journalist and
a
political party activist. The media landscape has become
dangerously politicized, with some
journalists throwing professionalism to the
dogs and getting openly biased in their approach to
issues. That, certainly, is a
deviation from the path chartered by our predecessors
as history tells us. The media in this country began
with a mission to bring total
freedom to the people. Even though most of our country
folk consider this goal as having been accomplished
with the winning of political
independence, the truth is that the most important aspect
of our freedom, namely economic emancipation, has
eluded us for the past 52 years.
The battle, therefore, is far from over.
Once again, it is up to the media to reawaken the national
consciousness and to galvanize the people for action in the
crucial
struggle for economic independence, without which our
political
freedom won on 6th March 1957 becomes meaningless. And the
press cannot fail in this task
because judging from its capabilities during
the colonial era it has the power to lead and to
succeed once it sets the agenda
for the entire nation.
The time has come for journalists to de-politicise the
nation's
media, and to turn them into a true marketplace of ideas,
where vital issues pertaining to
our march to economic freedom are objectively
appraised, and constructive suggestions/alternatives
provided for the consideration of
policy-makers.
The positive use of press freedom, which includes critical
but
constructive debates on development issues, has contributed
to the success and well-being of
Europe and America as we see them today. In
spite of its abundant human and natural resources,
Africa as a whole has remained
backward in development terms mainly because she suffers
from what some analysts refer to as the poverty of
ideas.
It is ideas and the know-how that can transform those
resources
into wealth to solve the myriad of problems confronting the
people.
The media could be of benefit in this regard by identifying
and
stimulating public debates on some of the key issues of
concern about the national economy
and about job creation. Through the engineering
of such discussions, the media would allow for a
clash of various shades of ideas,
opinion, and suggestions out of which some useful
ones could emerge for adoption.
This resetting of agenda would not prevent the media from
continuing to hold government accountable to the people. It
only calls for a departure from
pettiness, the removal of unnecessary media
emphasis on politics, and the shifting of that
emphasis onto issues about
improving the economic and social well-being of our society.
While journalist continue to keep Government on it toes and
ensured that politicians kept to their campaign promises,
they should also follow
parliamentary debate consistently with keen interest and
should stimulate public debate and ensure that
whatever arises from there gains
currency. At the same time the various outlet could be
used to exploit/expose the country economic potential
and tourist attraction to woe
foreign investment.
It is the belief of many that the over politicization of the
media stems largely from the tendency of those in political
power to tacitly reward
journalists, who toe their line. Therefore, government
officials would contribute immensely to putting a
stop to the phenomenon of partisan
journalism if they would help to make
sycophancy less attractive.
The general public would also be playing a crucial role in
the
entrenchment of the proposed new media culture by abandoning
the taste for mischievous
sensationalism, demonstrating practical support for
media outlets that consistently tackle issues of
national importance, and by
participating actively in the debates that ensue. That is
the only way to help to transform
the media into true agents of positive
social change rather than political tools for our own
undoing.
When the signs point to the end of a particular era and
change
becomes inevitable, it pays to accept that fact and to make
the
necessary adjustments. Even the die-hard communists in the
erstwhile Soviet Union could not
but succumb to the transformatory winds of
'Perestroika' and 'Glasnosts' rather than swim
against the tide.
Similarly, it would do this country a lot of good if media
practitioners came to the realisation that the era of
militant
journalism, when being blatantly anti-government (even if
there was no call for it) was
considered as vogue in the profession, and when only
journalists, who had been to prison were regarded as
the best, is gone. Useful as it
was, adversarial journalism fitted well into the
prevailing political and social circumstances of the
pre-independence era, which paid
off well by helping to win political independence.
The challenges that confront the nation today, however, are
of a
totally different nature and demand a different combat
strategy on the media front. The
fight for economic emancipation in today's
technologically sophisticated world is rather of a
scientific nature
and has more to do with ideas, hearts and minds than rough
tactics or jungle warfare. To
continue to use the same old confrontational media
agenda of the 1940s in our search for economic
freedom today could be likened to
the dancer who failed to change his dance-style even after
the beat had changed to a different rhythm. One thing
is for certain, though. If the
media today should gang up against poverty and
under-development with the same determination and
sustained effort as the
pre-independence press approached the task of de-colonisation,
and given a well-focused
leadership, this nation would score a decisive
victory in the crucial fight for economic freedom.
The famous muckraker, Upton Sinclair, once asked "What good
does it does us, to fight for
freedom abroad if, in the meantime, we are
losing it at home?" So in the same vein, we ask
fellow Ghanaians what good it does
us to tear at each others' throats and strip each other
naked publicly in the name of partisan politics, only
to wake up the next morning and
find stark poverty staring us all in the face without
discrimination!
GNA
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