THE REPUBLIC OF FALSE CHOICES

I recently took a cursory observation of the YouTube channels of various Ghanaian media outlets and personalities. I must say that exercise was an eye-opener. Though I share in the frustration of most Ghanaians on the direction and content of our television stations particularly, I must say that these media stations are simply responding to the market demand.

I don’t have a cast in stone ideological position on this matter. I am not in favour of the government actively engaging in content regulation in Ghana. I am, however, in favour of the strengthening of the requirements regime prior to the granting of licenses for the operation of television and radio stations. The market mechanism should then be able to weed out the undesirable elements. This may be a very unpopular view coming on the heels of the gruesome murder of a kid by two minors in Kasoa, who confessed to being influenced by a ‘juju woman’ they watched on television. However, it is a principled position that I take as a bulwark against the emergence of ‘democratic dictatorship’ in future.

There is no gainsaying stating the fact that much of what we abhor on television is driven by viewing numbers. Private media owners are in business to among other things make profits. If the viewing numbers for an ‘Akuapem Poloo’ press conference is high, then it makes economic sense for television content directors to pursue such programmes rather than more educative programmes. Media companies like all other companies are using data science now to drive content creation. If a particular topic gives a media house massive online engagement that translates into viewing numbers, then expect that media company to dedicate time to follow stories along such topics. They simply follow the rationale economic reasoning and chase where the money is.

Perhaps, the new broadcasting bill may attempt a regularisation of unsavory content but how many of the media companies would be able to survive then?

That leads me to ask how many of you will be willing to pay TV license fees? Without the funding from television licensing fees, which other innovative approach can we use to fund our public broadcaster?

There is also a conversation to be had on the quality of journalism practised in this part of town. Although I have defended the ‘right’ of media houses, especially private media houses receiving no support from the state, to pursue contents as a means to an economic end. It is equally important for journalists and broadcasters working in such media organisations to uphold to the highest standard, the ethics of the profession. Just as journalists are expected to hold leaders to account, they also have a responsibility in the nation-building process. Journalists have the solemn responsibility of spreading positive consciousness among the masses.

Journalism must go beyond just the provision of information and entertainment. It must also concern itself with more important goals like the promotion of education among the citizenry and development-focused communication. If the media seek to promote development, then this must be reflected in the conscious selection of news and their presentation. We can then confidently point to a media that is a partner in the national reorientation endeavour. I am not so sure our media has lived up to the expectation on this score.

It is refreshing to hear the Information Minister state emphatically that the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation will not be privatised. I believe that every self-respecting nation must strive to build an impartial public broadcaster. It is time we pay attention to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. Public broadcasting serves as the anchor and a guardian of our democratic development by the provision of objective reportage and accurate news broadcast. This cannot be adequately met by a public broadcaster competing in the market with private media for a customer base with very short attention spans.

Fortunately, data from Afrobarometer Round 8 surveys shows support for media freedoms is very high among the Ghanaian citizenry. Again, the data shows that a significant number of people still rely on traditional media for their news. Though a lot of young people are resorting to the internet for their news, they still rely on the social media pages of the traditional media houses to solicit news. This places a heavy burden on the media (television and radio, especially) to live up to its true constitutional creed.

The President on Wednesday, 28th April 2021 launched a $25 million Presidential Film Pitch Series, which would, amongst others, provide Ghanaian filmmakers the opportunity to access markets for their films. The President further announced that €45 million had been approved for the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) to reform it into a world class training facility.

I am happy about the injection of this much-needed capital into our dying film industry. I have long been a ardent fan of the Ghanaian film industry and to watch it struggle for survival and relevance in the last decade has been a painful thing to me. I love films and recognize their limitless potential in reinventing the Ghanaian psyche, which is much needed, if we are to develop to our full potential.

 It was the African American writer W.E.B. DuBois, who once said that all ‘art is propaganda’. We must recognize that our existence as a people is burdened both by our history and value system. Which other better way can we embark on this journey than through our films?

I would urge the filmmakers who will benefit from this initiative to make it a point to inculcate positive values of our history into their films.  The Senegalese Poet, Senghor once told a story of how he always took care to put an ‘idea or emotion behind [his] words.’ Projecting a positive value system through films must be at the forefront of the industry. The stories on witchcraft and superstition are getting way too many and downplay the nuances of our rich spiritual heritage. Beyond the entertainment value of the American, British, Chinese, and Indian movies we watched as kids, I can vividly remember the ‘propaganda value’ of those films. They conveyed the story of a people. The distinct ‘American exceptionalism’, heroism, volunteerism conveyed in American films is unmistakable.

Movies are meant to give us cultural influence. Our filmmakers must strive to shape our national discourse as such. Our films must move beyond just entertaining to influencing minds. The scriptwriting should be embedded in nation-building. Of course, this is not to suggest, the movies should become propaganda pieces for the government or political class but even its depiction of the many ills afflicting our society must be geared towards eliciting a response to solving the problems of the state rather than normalising them. Our priority on this score must be on the projection of our history and the condition of our existence and everyday vestiges of our national life for generations after us to learn about our civilization. Philosopher, Kwame Gyekye in his brilliant book, ‘Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections on the African Experience’ in rejecting the notion that modernity must be equated with Western values and institutions admonished us to forge creatively the story of our civilization within the furnace of our multifaceted cultural experience. We must take this challenge on with the utmost urgency it requires.

The image on the website was all too familiar. It was almost mundane. Yet another accident. Yet more precious Ghanaian lives lost avoidably. The image of the mangled Sprinter bus which was travelling from Kumasi to Accra. It was the third accident on this highway I had read about in the news just in the month of April. The response was predictable; ‘why can’t we dualise the Kumasi-Accra road?’

I agree that highways connecting our major cities and trading centres must be dualised in order to enable the free flow of traffic. However, it is naïve if we think that dualising our highways will invariably lead to safety on our roads. Beyond road designing; poor driver training, lack of enforcement of traffic regulations and poor maintenance of vehicles are major contributory factors to the spate of road accidents. I have travelled on the Accra-Kumasi road a couple of times and the level of reckless driving one encounters on that route is simply-mind boggling. Dualising our highways won’t mask away from the indiscipline of some of the drivers sitting behind steering wheels in our country. It won’t change the fact that the standards of some of the vehicles plying our roads are not safe or roadworthy. Those are the bigger issues we must address.