Lamisi Dabire

I have been following the news of America’s deadliest shooting ever at Virginia Tech with keen interest. My initial reaction was to follow the story like most people as it developed from one Television channel to the other and also on the web. I kept asking myself how this heinous act could have taken place and what sort of person the gunman was? Many of these questions have since been answered with latest insights into the shooting incident. I had my own challenge about what kind of system allows for students to carry guns on school campus.

My curiosity turned surprise as I watched the story unfold. What shocked me most was the way CNN worked tirelessly to find a scapegoat for the massacre on the Virginia Tech campus. These so called experienced reporters of CNN kept asking and insinuating that the school authorities and the police on campus had failed to protect the students and lecturers. I was shocked by the deliberate effort to set people up against each other. It smacks of mischief, definitely not what the ethics of the profession encourages. Fortunately, most students interviewed were indifferent to the ploy. What they were concerned with was the fate of their friends and colleagues, and how soon the healing process was going to start.

It is without doubt that the Ghanaian media plays a pivotal role in the entrenchment of democratic principles in the country. As the fourth tier of the state, the media does not only play its traditional role of a watchdog, but also serves as a tool for engaging grassroots in participating in governance. Ghana boasts of 137 licensed radio stations, over hundred daily, weekly, biweekly and tri-weekly newspapers and four free-to-air TV Stations. At this rate, one can envision that the media sector is among the high employing sectors in the country.

Ghana’s 1992 constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression including the right to freedom of the press and other media. The repeal of the Criminal Libel Law in 2001, a law that had impeded the journalistic profession in Ghana, opened the floodgates to private media. This saw the establishment of many newspapers and radio stations in mostly urban areas of the country with radio witnessing the most growth over the period and few more television stations.