By Edzorna Francis Mensah
The Speaker Of Parliament Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has called on Media Practitioners to adhere to the tenets of their profession in order to help build and protect Ghana’s growing democracy.
Speaking at the Swearing-in of the newly elected members of the Executives of The Parliamentary Press Corps on Monday, April 4 2022 the Speaker asked the executives to commit to, and focus on ensuring that all members adhere to and practice professional journalism, devoid of spins, sophistries and rabble-rousing reportage.
He charged the Journalists to “bear in mind that journalism is not about making up stories with the intent of attracting readers and making one popular. Well-trained journalists have a service to render, and it is only through true and verified leads and stories that they can have an impact on the growth of society, and in particular, the growth and development of Ghana’s Parliamentary democracy”.
He believes that the media’s role as the Fourth Estate of the Realm in democratic governance and that, “given the freedom to conduct its boundary-spanning role between government and citizens, the media can positively steer and even completely alter the ways in which the government and its institutions operate. It can also effectively hold political leaders accountable for carrying out their mandate to the people”.
“Holding our leaders accountable is the role of the media, which Parliament shares in. Ultimately, and in keeping with the maxim “the people’s power is greater than the people in power,” the media’s role as the voice and mouthpiece for the voiceless is a critical one which, in partnership with the legislature, can help in ensuring that those elected govern with the hopes and aspirations of the citizens in mind”.
Torching on the Press and Parliamentary Business, Mr. Speaker made the point that, there is no better exemplar of our legislature’s efforts to strengthen the representative role and public involvement in the work of parliament than the parliamentary press corps, which serves as a watchdog over all legislative actions.
“Recognized to be a temple of democracy, Parliament functions as an open and public forum, giving access to the parliamentary press corps to deliberations and hearings on the floor of the chamber and now at committee sittings. This is where the media’s role as the scrutinizer and amplifier of government policies and administrative activities come into play”.
The Director of the Parliament Affairs Department, Kate Addo also called the media to also do soft stories to highlight unknown areas of Parliamentary business to the public.
