The Minister for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, accompanied by a team from her ministry, visited the office of The Chronicle on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 to familiarise herself with the operations of the newspaper house.
Her visit to The Chronicle, as she has done to other media houses, was to afford her an opportunity to deepen cohesion between her ministry and the media, which is an institution recognised by the 1992 Constitution.
The interaction between the management of The Chronicle, led by the General Manager, the venerable Ebo Quansah, discussed issues of importance to the work of the media in the country.
The minister on her part emphasised the role of the media in promoting accountability and educating the citizenry. She made the point that the media is a vital partner in our democracy.
She reiterated her ministry’s open-door policy and encouraged the media to reach out with any concerns or suggestions.
The Chronicle expressed its commitment to fostering a strong relationship between the government and the media, and also assured the minister of its readiness to collaborate with the Ministry of Information, to enhance information flow and uphold journalistic integrity.
Fatimatu Abubakar’s visit to The Chronicle is seen as a positive step towards enhancing government-media relations and underscores her dedication to supporting the crucial role of the media in the democratic dispensation of Ghana.
It is also worthy of note that the affable Minister for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, is the second sector minister to have visited The Chronicle and other media houses, since the late Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey, who was an Information minister in the first term of former President John Agyekum Kuffuor.
The initiative needs commendation, given that it is not usual of sector ministers, though the media is very integral to their respective roles in the governance system.
The Chronicle would like to recommend to other sector ministers that they emulate what the Minister for Information has done.
The norm has been that sector ministers, and by extension, government institutions, work with the media from their offices, without finding time or perhaps recognising the need to visit.
We are not saying that every day a minister should visit a media house. That is not even practicable.
However, like Fatimatu Abubarkar has done, the ministers can add to their activities by touring media houses in the early days of their appointment to familiarise themselves with the media.
We believe that the step taken by the Minister for Information to visit media house would make her work with the latter easier, with regards to using the media to propagate the message of the government. She mentioned the open-door policy being operated at her ministry. This policy is very commendable and worth emulating by others.
There can be good working relationships with all institutions, regardless of how sensitive their work may seem. On the contrary, we think that if your role is sensitive but you are not media-friendly, the media will not be able to inform and educate the public about your work.
The media is like food to the various ministries that implement the policies of government. It would be an expression of ignorance for any minister to think that they can succeed without working with the media.
The media would not see itself as demi-gods, but it is a statement of fact that the media can make and unmake a minister. One publication from a media house can result in the promotion or dismissal of an appointee. To put it more succinctly, the success or otherwise of a government is to a very large extent dependent on the media.
We are commending the Minister for Information because we see her visits as bridging the gap between the government and the media.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has also embarked on similar media tours recently, which is also commendable.
For the government that passed the Right to Information Bill, arming the media to seek information that ordinarily may not have been made public, it is just right that its ministers do not shy away from the media.
