Over the years, I have heard the media being described as the 4th arm or estate of Government. In the books, we have 3 arms of government, namely the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. All these 3 arms of government’s roles have been clearly explained in the constitution of Ghana. As a government student wayback in Senior High school (SHS), I was taught that the executive enforces the law, the Legislature makes, amends or repels the law and the judiciary interprets it.

There is something also called ‘checks and balances’ which is like a system that allows each arm of government to amend or veto acts of another arms as to prevent each other from exerting too much power. Basically, checks and balances helps prevent abuse of power or dictatorship.

Then there is the doctrine of ‘Separation of powers’. This is where the 3 arms of government are made to work separately so as not to interfere with each other’s work. So it’s the division of powers amongst these 3 arms of government to prevent conflict.

From these two above stated points, the roles of the 3 arms of government are spelt out in our constitution which happens to be the highest law of the land.

The media being described as the 4th arm of government might not be explicitly stated in our constitution. But the concept of the media/press being described as the 4th arm stems from the belief that the media’s main responsibility to inform the people is essential to the healthy functioning of democracy in a country like Ghana that practices it.

This is to say, the media serves as an intermediary between the people and the 3 arms of government. Therefore, if checks and balances does not work and separation of powers is flouted too, we can trust the media to keep the government in check and relay the right information to the people who gave these 3 arms of government the power(whether directly or indirectly) to govern them.

TODAY’S MEDIA

It does not take rocket science to realise that the mainstream media has been infiltrated with politics(dirty politics) these days. Lately, we see how the media aids in politicising almost every single issue of national interest rather than reporting it without any bias. Some stories are being portrayed deceptively to the populace. This has led to the distortion of information and in other countries even led to conflicts and genocides.

Thus, the mainstream media has introduced an increased level of instability and unpredictability into the political communication process.

Pre-coronavirus era(before this whole covid-19 pandemic started), almost every radio and tv station had a political segment in their morning programs where they sometimes invite politicians from different political parties(mostly from NPP and NDC) to come debate on issues which sometimes do not even require comments from politicians and their parties.

This has become monotonous. All what most of these politicians do is come sit on the tv/radio, yell and at the end of the day provide no single solution(devoid of political gibberish) to issues raised.

This is not to say politicians do not deserve platforms to air their views but I believe the mainstream media has given many politicians the platform to take the people for a ride and have forgotten their core mandate.

As someone who has worked in the newsroom before, I at least have an idea as to how the media operates. But one thing I noticed is that most journalists these days have a political affiliation. Those who make it obvious and publicly declare their political stance are not as dangerous as those who want to appear as though they are objective or fair.

Those are the real serpents. At least with those who declare their political stance, it gives viewers and listeners the opportunity to separate the right information they relay from that of their fake, bias and noisy politically induced reportage so as to make their own judgment.

On countless occasions, I have seen actions of some journalists who happen to favour a particular political party and be amused.

Their speech and behind the scenes interactions are pretty deadly but they appear to be saints and saviours on the screens making it look like they represent the interest of the people whereas they are just a bunch of selfish and stomach direction journalists.

About 2 days ago, I saw a social media uproar and diverse reactions on Paul Adom Otchere’s remarks about Zanetor Rawlings’ allegation that the distribution of the food for the poor and needy was being shared on partisan basis, where people are asked to show their NPP party card before being given meals.

This is not to say I side with Zanetor Rawlings but what I found nauseating were the comments from Paul Adom Otchere. Instead of this popular journalist presenting facts and making known his findings to his viewers, he rather took to attacking the person of Zanetor Rawlings.

Zanetor just like most politicians was probably doing propaganda, which is the argument of some people, but that does not excuse Paul’s comments which were sexist, belittling and damaging.

As a journalist , you are meant to be fair and state nothing but facts to the people. Sometimes your opinions don’t even matter. All what you have to do is present your findings to your viewers or listeners and let them be the judge. Listening to Paul Adom Otchere, never for once did he mention that ‘per his findings he realized Zanetor Rawlings was lying’.

Neither did he present evidence to back his claim. Right from the beginning to the end, it sounded as though he had a vendetta not only against Zanetor Rawlings but that of her parents too. Indirectly telling Zanetor that she only got elected as an MP because of her family’s political history(could or could not be true but how exactly does it relate to her statement).

How exactly does this qualify as journalism? Or did the meaning of journalism change? Same man who wasn’t a witness to the Ayawaso west wuogon by-election violence but still wanted to testify before the Emile Short commission. Same man who lied and said his colleague, Nii Arday Clegg, wrote an IA for him some years ago.

Yes, that is the man I am talking about. With this kind of attitude, how exactly will the media keep the government on its toes? On the same station Paul Adom Otchere hosts his program, there is also Randy Abbey who sometimes makes demeaning comments about the government without presenting proof.

Politicians also own radio stations where they use those mediums to attack their opponents viciously and spew gibberish. That is what journalism has been reduced to. The likes of Mugabe Maase result to insulting people and I wonder how exactly that qualifies as journalism.

I also saw a lengthy article from Manasseh Azure where he talked about something Paul did to him in the past. But it is pretty difficult to take someone like Manasseh Azure’s word(in this particular case) because this same man is always loud with corruption related issues or scandalous ones but never for once did I hear him say anything(unless I missed it) about Pastor Mensah Otabil’s Capital bank collapse case and his own colleagues alleged that it’s because the aforementioned person is his pastor and was the one who even blessed his marriage.

Manasseh in the past has made some damning allegations and one of them which made me question his credibility is the supposed exposé he did on the Osu castle militia. Till date, I’m still trying to understand what exactly he hoped to achieve with that reportage which I consider misleading. So if Paul Adom Otchere is able to infiltrate the media house Manasseh Azure use to work for and convince his colleagues that he requested for a bribe from Zoomlion and Manasseh’s own colleagues chose to believe Paul over him, then to me, that says quite a lot about Manasseh Azure.

Furthermore, I have seen some journalists, media camera men, etc…. ask for personal favors from politicians(sometimes financial). When some of these Politicians visit these media houses for their respective shows, right after, you see some of the crew following them around to take money from them. How exactly will they be able to chastise these politicians when they go wrong? Most journalists these days are like microphone bugs for politicians in their respective media organizations. They report to politicians instead of reporting to the people.

I believe it is not wrong to be politically affiliated to a political party. It will be beautiful to have credible and astute journalists someday take up big roles in government, get rid of corruption and do for the people what our current politicians are failing to do. In my opinion, most(even though I’m tempted to say all) journalists have a soft spot for a particular political party. But if it interferes with your work as a journalist and makes us question your credibility, then it’s better you hang your boots and indulge in politics full time so as not to mislead the masses. Social media has also not helped matters. The likes of Kelvin Taylor and others are used as political tools to spread false information. It has made it difficult to prevent the wrong spread of information and curb certain activities that are detrimental to the practice of democracy. I wonder what our security and communications ministry meant to monitor social media activities do. Not to even talk about the NCA and their somewhat dormant nature. Is this the right time to have a conversation on the regulation of social media? Not to infringe on the freedom of speech or other rights but to prevent the spread of information meant to cause malicious damage to our beloved country? Let’s talk. Please read and share(y’all are under lockdown, you don’t have an excuse not to read).Lol