FOR THE first time under the nation’s evolving democracy, the state-owned Daily Graphic newspaper and its Editor have been asked to apologise and retract injurious publication it carried against the Editor of a private newspaper.

Giving the directives last week Monday after the case was brought before them for settlement, members of the National Media Commission noted that it was their considered view that parts of the publication complained of was really injurious to the reputation of the complainant, Mr Alfred Ogbamey, Managing Editor of the Gye Nyame Concord newspaper.

“The National Media Commission, after examining the evidence before it, is of the view that parts of the publication complained of were injurious to the image of Mr. Ogbamey, the complainant, and therefore directs the Graphic to apologise to Mr Alfred Ogbamey and retract the press release in as far as it adversely affected Mr Ogbamey,” the Commission ruled.

It noted in a subsequent press release issued by the former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and current Chairman of the NMC, Mr Paul Adu-Gyamfi, that the directives should be carried within 14 days from the date of its issuance.

Ogbamey, through his lawyer and colleague journalist, Mr Egbert Isaac Faibille, dragged the Graphic and its Editor to the Commission following the publication which labelled him “a rogue” and “unprofessional” journalist, who should be barred from practicing journalism.

The publication, which was authored by the Director General of the Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority (GPHA), Mr. Ben Owusu-Mensah, also disparaged Mr Ogbamey in other ways.

Incidentally, days after the publication of the article in the paper, the Director General of the GPHA secured an ex-parte (conferring with the judge without notice to the CONCORD) injunction restraining Mr Alfred Ogbamey and the publishing company behind the Gye Nyame Concord newspaper, their agents or assigns from going ahead with publications on GPHA.

In their defence, the Daily Graphic, through its solicitor, Mrs Cecilia Davis and Editor/Lawyer Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, argued that the publication was justified and that the newspaper was covered by privilege because the author of the article was a government official who was acting in an official capacity.

But Mr Ogbamey and his lawyer disagreed, and pointed put that there was no privilege Graphic could rely on to cover the offensive publication and challenged the state-owned newspaper to bring the author of the allegations to back his allegations if they deemed it true.

Lawyer Faibille on his part insisted that as a living person, his client “has a right to the unimpaired possession of a reputation and a good name and has been compelled to bring this action against the Daily Graphic and its editor for the vindication of his reputation…”

He further argued that “a newspaper cannot claim Privilege after accepting money for the publication of an advertisement which is clearly defamatory of any individual and that if the NMC allows this ‘principle’ as being implied by GCGL to stand the Ghanaian society will be thrown into chaos occasioned by such ‘strange principles.’

After the ruling last Monday, Mr Faibille, explained that Graphic was not the target of his client and that his client intends to take serious action on the author of the article himself.

Speaking to this paper after the ruling, Mr Faibille noted that “we only wanted to state a case and to prevent a scenario where somebody uses the state-owned media or any media outlet to disparage any journalist without any basis whatsoever just because the journalist was performing a professional task.”

Ogbamey later told this paper that the whole exercise was to ensure that nobody misuses the state-owned media for their parochial interest just because he/she has the financial means, and that it is also to ensure that people do not misuse newspapers to smear journalists performing their legitimate jobs and asking legitimate questions on the taxpayer’s money.