Journalistic ethic of objectivity and how it plays out in the Ghanaian Media Space
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Journalism
is an institution that has been established by the society to play a specific
role. Journalism is one of the most important social, cultural, and political
institutions. Journalism has been around “since people recognized a need to
share information about themselves with others” (Zelizer, 2004, p. 2).
Code
of ethics, according to the Business Dictionary, is written set of guidelines
issued by an organization to its workers and management to help them conduct
their actions in accordance with its primary values and ethical standards.
Just
as any profession, journalism also has its code of ethics that guides its
practitioners in their line of duty. Journalism ethics and standards comprise
principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific
challenges faced by journalists. This subset of media ethics is widely known to
journalists as their professional “code of ethics” or the “canons of
journalism”. The basic codes and canons commonly appear in statements drafted
by both professional journalism associations and individual print, broadcast,
and online news organizations.
Example
is the Ghana Journalists Association (G.J.A.) Code of Ethics, which was drafted
on July 27, 1994. The Code of Ethics, according to the association (GJA), is
meant to ensure that members of the Ghana Journalists Association adhere to the
highest ethical standards, professional competence and good behavior in
carrying out their duties.
According
to Guideline 2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8 of
the revised code of ethics of the GJA, journalists must report the truth at all
times, uphold public interest, make adequate enquiries and cross-check facts,
recognize the public’s right to fair, unbiased, accurate, balanced and
comprehensive information, and differentiate between fact, opinion and
commentary such that news is presented objectively
without embellishments.
While
various existing codes have some differences, most share common elements
including the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality,
fairness, and public accountability, as these apply to the acquisition of
newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the public.
The
Cambridge Dictionary defines objectivity as “the quality of being able to make
a decision or judgment in a fair way that is not influenced by personal
feelings or beliefs.”
According
to the dictionary.com, objective, is “not influenced by personal feelings,
interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased”.
Objective
writing is writing that you can verify through evidence and facts. If you are
writing objectively, you must remain as neutral as possible through the use of
facts, statistics, and research. This type of writing is best used when you as
a writer need to present unbiased information to an audience and then let them
determine their own opinion.
Journalistic
objectivity is a considerable notion within the discussion of journalistic
professionalism. Journalistic objectivity may refer to fairness,
disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship, but most often encompasses
all of these qualities. Objectivity in journalism aims to help the audience
make up their own mind about a story, providing the facts alone and then
letting audiences interpret those on their own. To maintain objectivity in
journalism, journalists should present the facts whether or not they like or
agree with those facts. Objective reporting is meant to portray issues and
events in a neutral and unbiased manner, regardless of the writer’s opinion or
personal beliefs.
Journalistic
objectivity requires that a journalist not be on either side of an argument.
The journalist must report only the facts and not a personal attitude toward
the facts. While objectivity is a complex and dynamic notion that may refer to
a multitude of techniques and practices, it generally refers to the idea of “three
distinct, yet interrelated, concepts”: truthfulness, neutrality, and
detachment.
Brian
McNair says, first, journalism lays claim to the qualities of truthfulness and
accuracy. This is to say that, when you look at the principles of journalism,
it talks about truthfulness and accuracy. These are two most important
principles when it comes to the practice of journalism. These two properties or
principles will lead to objectivity, a concept used to legitimize the
journalistic text while at the same time recognizing the multidimensional and
elusive nature of ‘truth’. That is telling society that I have integrity so
trust me, I will give you the truth. It says I am being truthful so whatever I
tell you, trust it.
Journalism
wants to win the trust of society so as to be accepted. That is why it is
advised that if you are a journalist or a media house and you are not sure of
the information, don’t go ahead and say it. Check it, double check it and even
triple check it. You want the society to believe in you.
Objectivity in the Ghanaian media
space
In
Ghana, media freedom is largely guaranteed in the 1992 Constitution. However,
the freedom, credibility and survival of the media face a potential
threat as a result of unprofessionalism in a number of Ghanaian media. The
public is increasingly raising concerns about rampant professional lapses among
the Ghanaian media with some calling for the reintroduction of criminal libel
which was repealed in July 2001. - MFWA Final Report: Ethical Violations in
the Ghanaian media.
Majority
of media houses and media practitioners in the country, Ghana, are faced by
some factors that hinder objectivity as their code of ethic which they must
adhere to. Some of these factors are elaborated below.
Media
ownership and political affiliation of the media firm or practitioner is a
major factor that hinders them in their line of duty. Media owners who are
politically affiliated can influence the decisions editors make on news
stories. The reason being that political affiliated media owners do have commercial interest that do not match
with the journalism principles of accuracy, truth, fairness and objectivity.
Again, political reporters go the extra mile to bring readers and listeners
information that will interest them. But many are prone to the influence of
their media houses, media owners, politicians and their own ideologies. ‘It is
not wrong for our media to do political reporting, or even for any media house
to say, ‘We support this ideology’,’ said Sulemana Braimah, deputy executive
director of Media Foundation for West Africa. ‘But it’s about detailed analysis
and professionalism,’ he added. ‘Issues of objectivity, analysis, facts,
professionalism and ethics is where for me journalism is lacking to a greater
extent when it comes to political writing,’ said Braimah.
Again,
media freedom has authorize some media practitioners to report news stories
without even verifying. The third element of journalism, according to Bill
Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, states that a journalist must verify his or her
information before disseminating it. However, because of the repealing of the
criminal libel law, and no publication is subject to criminality, most
journalists do not verify their information before airing it. An evidence of
this is when a journalist broadcasted, without checking his fact, that the
Atomic Gas explosion was as a result of fire sparked from a kebab seller.
Financial
difficulties and advertisement of/on various media firms turn out to restrain
media practitioners of being objective in their reportage. Majority of the
media firms in Ghana survives on advertisements. Thus, the main source of
revenue generation of media houses are through advertisement. Advertisers gets
to influence media firms due to the fact that they are the main financiers of
the media house. Notwithstanding, even if there is a news story about this
advertising firm which is wrong, the media will end up reporting it inaccurate
or not reporting at all. Again, when journalists tend to practice yellow
journalism as a result of bankruptcy of the media house. They become influenced
especially when they are ‘bought’ by a political actor or an influential
personality.
In contrast, some media firms are striving to
be more professional despite the challenges they face. The video attached is Mr. Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr. (a New Patriotic
Party loyalist), Editor-in-chief of the New Crusading Guide, commenting on the
recent attack on the Member of Parliament for the Old Tafo Pankrono
Constituency, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, who doubles as Minister of
state for Monitoring and Evaluation by members of the pro-NPP vigilante group,
Delta Force. As a journalist and although the party’s loyalist, he condemned
the act of the vigilante group, calling for their arrest and prosecution.
To sum up, it’s important for journalists to be aware and know that their
objectivity may and will always be more or less stained by their subjectivity. However, journalists or media practitioners must adhere to the highest
journalist standard and must act accordingly to their professional code of
ethics. “My business is to communicate facts. My instructions do not allow me
to make any comments upon the facts which I communicate. My dispatches are sent
to papers of all manner of politics, and the editors say they are able to make
their own comments upon the facts which are sent to them. I therefore confine
myself to what I consider legitimate news. I do not acts as a politician
belonging to any school, but try to be truthful and impartial. My dispatches
are merely dry matter of fact and detail.” – Christopher B. Daly.
Bibliography
ü McNair,
B., Hibberd, M. and Schlesinger, P. (2002).
‘Public Access Broadcasting and Democratic Participation in the Age of Mediated
Democracy’, Journalism studies, 3 (3): 407-22.
ü Code
of ethics
ü Ghana
Journalists Association Code of Ethics
Revised
edition (2017)
ü McNair, B. (1998) The Sociology of journalism. ARNOLD
ü Dictionary.com
ü “Statement of Principles”. America
Society of News Editors (ASNE). Retrieved March 17, 2015.
ü “APME-
Statement of Ethical Principles”. apme.com. Archived on June 22, 2008.
ü “SPJ
Code of Ethics”. Society of Professional
Journalists (SPJ). September 6, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
ü Christopher
B. Daly (2012). Covering America: A
Narrative History of a Nation’s Journalism. Univ of Massachusetts Press. p. 81
ü MFWA
Final Report: Ethical Violations in the Ghanaian media.
(mfwa.africafex.org)
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