Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah has criticised government for failing to invite pro-opposition radio station Radio Gold to President Nana Akufo-Addo’s press encounter on Tuesday.
Deputy Information Minister, Perry Okudzeto explained that a media house such as Radio Gold was left out of the list because “Media houses in the country are many and so we found a way of pruning down the number. It was not because of any political affiliation … we had to send out invitation to some and not all. It is not only Radio Gold that was not invited; other stations in Accra were also not invited”.
However, Information Minister Mustapha Hamid has also said he personally called to invite the station to the press conference.
Mr Braimah took to his Facebook wall to express his displeasure about exclusion of the station.
He stated:
“Why were some key media houses not invited to the Presidential encounter while others had more than one, even more than two representatives? I have read what is said to be an explanation by Deputy Information Minister, Perry. But the explanation just doesn’t wash.
“For such an important media event with the President, you cannot leave out a major station like Radio Gold. Yes, Radio Gold is Pro-NDC, so what? In fact, that is precisely the reason why they ought to have been invited even if it was only 10 media organisations that were invited.
According to latest figures for first quarter 2017, Radio gold is Number 6 in Accra in terms of listernership and number 10 nationally. So what was the criteria for selecting the media organisations that were invited. Was it out of fear, malice or discrimination? Such a poor judgement!!!”.
He is demanding a better explanation from government on the criteria used in selecting media houses that participated in the event.
“The Ministry of Information needs to explain the criteria used in selecting media houses for the Presidential Encounter. Not every media house could have been invited. Yes that’s true. So there must have been a criteria.
“That special criteria allowed for some media houses to be represented by three people while others could not even have a single representative. So what was that special criteria? Was it based on audience share, political correctness or what? There should not be such a bad start to further polarise the media landscape. Past errors must not be repeated but corrected. I can’t stop whining,” he stressed.
