?The Crusading Guide newspaper is a pro-NPP paper.? Believe it or not, the Editor in Chief of the paper, Mr. Kweku Baako Junior, has declared it. Mr. Baako made the revelation at a forum dubbed ?Legon Speaks?, held at the University of Ghana, Legon recently.

Speakers at the forum who included Dr. Josiah Aryeh, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Madam Francisca Esiem, national women organizer of the NDC, Nana Ohene Ntow, deputy government spokesperson, Mr. Raymond Osei Akoto, a prospective independent presidential candidate for the December general elections and Mr. Baako, were to speak their mind on whether the Ghanaian media was in bed with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

Mr. Baako who was the second speaker at the forum after Dr. Aryeh, pointed out that the constitution of Ghana allowed media plurality and stressed that, this being the case, there was no way different media houses were going to have a common editorial philosophy.

The Chief Editor said there was nothing wrong with media houses clearly demonstrating their support for one political tradition or the other, and justified his contention by making some references to the media in the western world.

?In America or the UK, you get different newspapers openly declaring their support for a particular political ideology and even in America, I know of papers who adopted different prospective presidential candidates for a particular political group and doing everything possible to help their chosen candidate,? the outspoken Baako made himself clear.

Though the Editor in Chief could not finish his presentation within the ten minutes that were allotted him, he got the opportunity to say more on the position of his paper and media issues as a whole when a question was addressed to him during question time.

Mr. Frimpong Manso of Adom FM, who was the moderator, drew Mr. Baako?s attention to his earlier declaration with regards to his paper?s position, when he (Baako) started his response to a question with the statement, ?well, for those of us who are perceived to be pro-NPP...?

The moderator?s intervention coincided with murmuring from the audience who were visibly arguing over the seemingly contradictory statement from Mr. Baako.

The Editor, however, seized the opportunity to point out a number of reasons that might have accounted for the cordial relationship between the media and the ruling government, the result of which might have been the perception that the media was in bed with the NPP government.

Some of the reasons he identified were, the repeal of the criminal libel law, cessation of wanton arrest of journalists and the representation of the media at the seat of government, the castle.

?For eight years, we fought for the repeal of the criminal libel law and media representation at the castle but all to no avail,? he stated.

He however debunked the assertion that once a media house declared its support for a particular political tradition, it would fail to see anything wrong with such a tradition or government, saying ?supporting a political philosophy does not mean one should not be factual?.

The change in the political leadership of the country in the year 2000, he opined, was a blessing to the nation and added that the role of the media in bringing forth that change could not be discounted.

Dr. Aryeh in his presentation, pointed out that contrary to the normal situation of having only political parties competing amongst themselves for political power, the media had waded in and had also become competitors with some political parties.

He urged media practitioners to help inform the people at the grassroots and present a true reflection of events in the country by being fair, independent and objective in their reportage instead of resorting to what he described as political propaganda stories.

?The media should play its rightful role of helping to equip voters of the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections with facts to enable them make informed decisions as to who to vote for in the elections,? the NDC scribe pleaded.

On his part, Nana Ntow gave the assurance that the NPP government recognized the role of the media in entrenching democratic governance in the country and would therefore do everything possible to help make the media vibrant in the country.

He said, the cordial relationship between the government and the media which had been the result of government?s open support for media vibrancy, should not be taken to mean that the media was playing it soft with the government since, as he put it, the same media had taken on some government officials for some alleged wrong doings.

Of late, there have been criticism among a section of Ghanaians that the Ghanaian media had shirked its constitutional responsibility of keeping public officials and government accountable to the people of Ghana and was consequently being less critical of the current government than it used to be in past regimes.