Speakers at a forum to discuss the implications of unprofessional conduct of media personnel in the 2012 elections, have charged practitioners to avoid hate speech and speak the truth with power and loud.
They said in today's political arena, some media practitioners don't think about the consequences of hate filled speech and inciting people, adding that the right to free speech does not mean irresponsible language.
The speakers said whatever the media's political, philosophical, or personal agenda might be, they should realize that words have power and that if a journalist put ideas into other people's minds they should assume some kind of responsibility.
They cited the Kenyan journalist Joshua Sang, who is before the International criminal Court for allegedly orchestrating communal violence, which followed the Kenyan's last national election.
Mr Patrice Mulama, Executive Secretary of the High Council of the Press in Rwanda, who delivered a paper on Radio and Genocide in Rwanda: Lessons for Ghana catalogued the irresponsible role played by the broadcast media and in the genocide and its attendant consequences.
He noted that any public statement that sought to incite passion should not be treated lightly because it would be a violation of the international humanitarian law and that anyone who participated in the agenda of hate speech must take full responsibility of its penalty.
Mr Mulama said the media if not handled properly could become a potential for mayhem and therefore called for effective self regulation of the media to ensure regular monitoring that would prevent them from crossing the line, adding “the media should stick to telling the truth and desist from polarization".
Mr. Soule Issiaka, a media expert, and consultant to the UN on media for peace, noted that the amplifying effect of radio brought broadcasters to the point where they could not control what they said, adding that bad and non-efficient words could not be manipulated.
He was of the view that the more broadcasters monitored their bad behaviours, the less unprofessional they would become, adding that journalists could no longer hide behind their organizations to spill venom but they could face the law as individual as in the Kenyan example.
Mr. Akoto Ampaw, a media law expert in Ghana, also condemned hate speech and noted that journalists who worked for political media owners should tread cautiously.
"Truth telling is in short demand here. In all this, the interest of the people that the parties claim to represent is largely lost", he said.
According to him, lack of a comprehensive broadcasting law, the power of the National Communications Authority to authorize frequencies for broadcasting, lack of effective legislative powers of the National Media Commission to authorize and withdraw frequencies and its inadequate budgetary allocation to work with, had resulted in intemperate language, sensationalism, naked lies and assassination of character in the media landscape.
"Let our mass media speak the truth. The danger signals are too obvious to be ignored, let confronts these threats and demand of those who are responsible for maintenance of law and order, our police service utmost accountability and performance of their duties without fear or favour, with regards to the powers that be or political colourization," he said.
Professor Kwame Karikari, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), urged the media to dedicate the few days before election on education of the voters and use the day itself to observe and monitor the election and not to incite passion.
The MFWA is organizing the forums to highlight the potentially negative ramifications of intemperate expressions and irresponsible media conduct.
The MFWA on November 20, 2012 held the first of such forums at the British Council Hall in Accra chaired by the Most. Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante, Chairperson-National Peace Council.
The forum featured speakers from Kenya and Cote d'Ivoire, who shared with Ghanaians, the media's role in elections-related violence in their respective countries.
The MFWA is a regional independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Accra. It was founded in 1997 to defend and promote the rights and freedom of the media and all forms of expression.