The Wednesday, August 6 helicopter crash, which took the lives of Dr Omane Boamah, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, Alhaji Mohammed Lemuna, Dr Samuel Sarpong and the three military men shook the foundation of this country. These are people who served Ghana to the best of their ability, but within a split of second, they were all gone. In the case of Dr Omane Boamah, our information is that he was the only ‘child’ of his mother – what a loss!
But, despite this painful tragedy, some of our colleague media houses were not sensitive enough to the issue at stake and rather embarked on what we consider to be reckless reportage. Looking at the sensitive nature of the tragedy, these media houses ought to have been careful about the way they report from the accident scene, but regrettably, this did not happen. In our Ghanaian culture and tradition the dead are supposed to be accorded dignity and respect.
Some of the television stations focused their cameras on the sacks containing the mortal remains of our departed country men, as they were being evacuated from the thick forest to the nearby village. The Chronicle must be brunt here: this is not good journalism – and one would have expected those in the newsroom in Accra to edit some of the pictures – but strangely, they also allowed it to go on air.
Now, because of this reckless reportage, Ghanaians are questioning why the bodies were not put in body bags, but rather cocoa sacks. Intelligence we are picking up indicates that the rescuers were not reckless – there was a genuine reason why the bodies were put in sacks, but the cameramen who were not sensitive to what had happened, decided to show it to the whole world. Sometimes, we the media (The Chronicle inclusive) must bear in mind that we also have families and if our loved family members are treated the way the former ministers were treated, we certainly will not be happy.
Yes, The Chronicle believes in healthy competition, but it does not mean that we should throw the ethics of our profession to the dogs. It is not rushing to show such sensitive pictures to the outside world that makes a television station the best among its competitors. We need to accept the fact that our cultural practices frown on some of these issues.
In fact, because the traditional media failed to properly play their roles, the reckless social media also saved the pictures and started distributing them with careless abandon. But can we blame social media – no, we think so – because about 99% of the users of the new media have no training in journalism and, therefore, do not know the ethics of the journalism profession.
The big question is: where was our National Security when all these pictures were being recklessly shown on television screens and also distributed on social media? In our view, National Security could have prompted managers of the television stations who were involved in showing the pictures ofthe sensitive nature of the situation and the need to be circumspect in their reportage.
Calling the television station on phone to advise them against the showing of the pictures pertaining to the bodies of the deceased ministers and other victims would nothave amounted to interference in their work.
Another leg of our argument is the failure of the same National Security to stop the circulation of the pictures on social media. The Chronicle is NOT, and we repeat NOT trying to teach the National Security how they should go about their work. But in a situation such as what we are discussing, it should have occurred to them that the circulation of the bodies being carried in cocoa sacks was not only insensitive to our culture, but not in the interest of the country as well, and ought to have been stopped. It is our contention that such a decision would not amount to suppression of press freedom because it is done in other jurisdictions.
It has become hackneyed nowadays to see Ghanaians taking pictures of accident victims with the intention of circulating them on social media, instead of helping with the rescue efforts. This practice is very bad but it is only education of the masses that can address the negative development. We need to be sensitive to the plight of people instead of rushing to publish their pains.
