Almost exactly three years to the day today, 6th July 2011 to be precise, in an article published on this same medium with the title “Oh What a Press We Have in Ghana”, I had cause to voice out my disappointment with our Press. That time my concern was mostly about how especially news reading in local languages had been turned into “a platform for people to display their knowledge in proverbs and idiomatic expressions or comedy-making rather than news reading. More often than not, what listeners are fed with is nothing more than 10% of an issue and 90% of the exaggerated and embellished personal view of the news reader in the form of jokes”.
Some time ago, during the days when there were no private radio and TV stations and only a couple of private newspapers competed with the good old ‘Graphic & Times’ a claim that “I read it in the Graphic” was close to a devout Christian claiming that what he’s saying can be found in the Bible. Let me add though that in those days “Graphic” was used to refer to any newspaper, and not necessarily the “Daily Graphic”. Again, in those days a claim that “It has even been announced on radio” was all one needed to convince his/her listener that what he/she is saying is nothing but the truth. With relatively vast improvements in communications and to some extent even transportation, one would have expected that any categorical statement on radio would be facts and nothing else, unless of course it is qualified by ‘subject to confirmation’ or something of the sort. But what do we see nowadays? Whether owing to poor training or the desire by radio presenters or correspondents to claim to be the first to break the news, our reporters put too many stories on air which usually turn out to be very untrue.
Sometime you of a motor accident having claimed six lives on the spot and many others in serious or critical condition. Within the next 12 or so hours the most likely story you will hear is that the accident in fact claimed two lives. Under normal circumstances, because some injured persons may die later after accidents what happens is for the death toll to rise. In Ghana however, most often than not, the death toll rather decreases.
I was driving on a country road around 4.00 p.m. yesterday, Sunday the 6th on the outskirts of Sunyani when a comment I heard on a Sunyani-based radio station forced me to park to enable me listen more clearly. According to the presenter, he was monitoring a developing story of some ‘terrible news’ concerning Black Stars’ Captain, Asamoah Gyan and his bosom friend, Castro who were involved in a drowning accident at Ada where they had gone to enjoy themselves. Within the next ten minutes or so before he could report of the confirmation or otherwise of the story this reporter and his colleague were full of condemnation of such unnecessary risks like water sports. At one time it was an accident involving a ‘speed boat’ they were riding following which Castro had been confirmed dead, and Asamoah Gyan in CRITICAL condition. These two guys discussed the story to the extent of even quoting the supposed US$300.00 (converted into Old Cedis) per night rate of the ‘Peace Holiday Resort’ where the two pals were supposed to have gone to enjoy themselves with some of the US$100,000 appearance fee Asamoah Gyan had earned as a member of the Black Stars Brazil 2014 team. And of course that was followed by the question of whether this would have happened if Ghana had not been eliminated so early in the World Cup. By 6.00 p.m. it had been confirmed that Castro’s body had been retrieved from the ‘Ada River’. And as you would expect listeners had already started calling in both to express their sympathy for Castro’s death and speedy recovery for Asamoah Gyan. As it turned out, however, even as I write now, almost 24 hours after the said accident, Castro’s body has not yet been found. What this means is that all that this particular radio station was feeding their listeners was nothing but lies. So what motivation can there be for lying to the whole world about such a serious story as the supposed death of a person and another being in critical condition? Meanwhile nowhere in this story was there any mention of the lady who is now known to be the person who went on the river/sea with Castro.
How Did Gyan Brothers Escape Death?
And as if all those lies told by a Sunyani-based radio on such a serious issue as someone’s death was not bad enough, the heading of one of the lead stories on Ghanaweb of today, 7th July, 2014 attributed to ‘Graphic Online’ of all news media, is that “Gyan Brothers Escape Death”. Normally when you read that someone has escaped death the first thing that comes to mind is that that person has escaped alive from a fatal accident in which he was involved. But you go on and read this story and all that you get is that “…Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan and his elder brother, Baffour, yesterday cheated death when one of Ghana’s promising young musicians, Theophilus Tagoe, popularly known as Castro and an unnamed lady friend drowned at an area close to the Ada estuary”. Nowhere in the story is there any mention of either Asamoah or his brother Baafuor Gyan entering the water either to swim or ride. On the contrary, in fact, all it says is that while Castro and his lady friend went to cruise Asamoah and a friend played volleyball at a nearby court. So what form of ESCAPE is ‘Graphic Online’ talking about and how close were they to the Death who they are supposed to have cheated?
Unfortunately, it appears that the days when claiming that ‘I read it in the Graphic’ or ‘I heard it on radio’ was all that was needed to convince others of the veracity of a story is gone, never to come back. And it is a crying shame!

Kwame Twumasi-Fofie
kwametwumasifofie@yahoo.com
Sunyani