SECTOR 4 Chapter 12 of the Constitution gives the public some recourse for inaccurate reporting, by stating that media shall be obliged to publish a rejoinder from a person about or against whom publication was made. “Sometimes NMC will ask that the rejoinder receive the same prominence as the original publication. But this can be difficult because you can’t place a rejoinder on the front page. So, the media try to hide the rejoinder elsewhere as a means to also maintain their credibility.” One panellist suggested that with the polarisation of the media, some of the inaccuracies that exist might, in fact, be intentional, with media owners pursuing a certain agenda. “Political inaccuracies are sometimes done deliberately because most media houses are owned by politicians themselves. Censorship is then done to please the powers that be. Journalists are sent out, for example, and told to look for a certain comment.” Continuing on this thread, another panellist noted that “if a good reporter wants to do a story, the quantum of error lessens. But if a story has to start and end on partisan interests, then the level of fairness is low. People that organise press conferences are not interrogated about what they’ve said. For example, when the current vice-president held a press conference on the Electoral Commission (EC), the media quickly ran at full scale demonising the EC. When the table was set to go against and prove that what he said was false, no media house made the follow-up. This is the canker! There is no fairness and no accuracy.” The ill-preparedness of journalists compromises the quality of reporting, and many panellists blamed this on journalists simply being lazy and or not doing their work. “There have been many occasions where they’ll come and ask questions without having done the background work.” “Sometimes they just take things from social media, without cross-checking it.” Panellists also noted that journalists often ask for an opinion on a certain issue, without providing the interviewee with clear context; or will ask for a comment on a statement that the interviewee has not read or is unprepared to respond to. “Fairness gets lost because you only hear one side of the story. But increasingly, because of the work of the NMC, some journalists are making a greater effort to hear the other side of the story.” Much is also left to be desired when it comes to fairness. Panellists noted occasions where a journalist has tried to lead them in a certain direction as they push for a certain angle for their story, thereby sacrificing fairness. “Reporters can try to be so fanciful sometimes that it doesn’t even make any sense. Sometimes, there’s nothing that stops you from just holding on to talk to the person, but since you want to get out first, you don’t wait for an additional opinion. In the end, they make it seem that person has something to hide if they can’t talk to you at that point.” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GHANA 2017 59