Unearthing
the gone glory of the Media
Society grows or retards according to the information
available to it and the actions forthwith which the pieces of
information engineered. No other sector of the society makes the
information available and effectively spread it other than the media.
The media is the custodian of the society. Everything about a people
is known through no other means than the media. The richness in
culture, tradition not excluding the organisation of the country in
politics and economics are portrayed to the outside world through the
artistic exertions of journalism. The job of the journalist anywhere
in the world can never be circumvented. In this, the journalists are
committed to two guiding principles which are the umbilical cords of
the job. Professionalism and Objectivity. In keeping to these ethics,
they shoulder a large and heavy load; balancing facts and fictions,
separating lies from truths and also keeping the nucleus of the
society alive.
Many a time the journalists have swayed in their quest
in the separation of facts and fictions as well as promoting more of
lies than truths especially when the lies are paid for or wanted by
the government of the host country. Propaganda. Loss of prestige. Fox
News in the US is clearly notorious for propaganda in the US. Even
the Canadian government rejected it as a local broadcasting station.
It can only be watched via satellite in Canada. Aljazeera is clearly
quite in the propaganda race too. I took special time to view the
Arab Spring from different angles, always switching constantly
consistently from CNN to Aljazeera. CNN was simply awesome in
objectivity though the impression I had for long had about it was
that of a Western media bulldog. Aljazeera clearly made it flagrantly
known that the Qatari government did not like Maummar Gaddafi and
Bashar al Assad. Marvelous propaganda. 'Un-professionalism' at its
heights. When CNN was keen on the Bahrain protest and that of Saudi
Arabia, complaining of Western connivance and silence, Aljazeera
mentioned them in passing. Despite this, Aljazeera still has more
educative, innovative and factual programmes than most international
media.
Back home, the media in Africa is nothing but ordinary news
arena, mostly imbalanced and uninteresting. Gory tales. Horrific
news. The media is clearly more of an horror movie news industry.
There is no gainsaying the fact that Africa has more of outrageous
events than those that positively catch the mind but the media has
forgotten that there is a generation to be nurtured after the heinous
thieves ruling the continent might have been deposed or gone
naturally to meet their king, Lucifer. I wonder if the tales of woes
now are more than those of the past. Definitely by all standard NO.
Africa now only needs more objectivity and problem-solving media
criticism. Constructive criticism. Africa needs a media that will
charge the system and not continue to make the thieves influential
criminals. Africa needs a media that will tell the people what they
need to do. Africa needs a media that will not be too quick to
announce to the world that there is a riot after election as
witnessed in Ghana.
During the US election, the Republicans objected to the
process in Florida claiming they will contest the result. Many
hiccups occurred in the process that produced Obama but all were kept
at the base so that distractions will not occur. So also was that of
George Bush. The media knows that it is capable of disrupting even
the best electoral process in the world. Did we ever hear of the
African-like election tales and stories? Rigging is so cheap in the
US that only a $2 dollar microchip will perform the magic. Both the
Republicans and Democrats know this. Who heard of Patraeus during the
campaign and election? How about the US drone fired at by Iran? Media
guides societies. Africa does not need a media that only makes
bribery and corruption look institutionalised. Africa needs a media
that juxtapose facts and developments in different African countries
as well as in the world. Africa needs a media that will unearth the
past and remake it for the modern age. Africa needs real
investigative journalism.
When
the continent was really hot with almost 2/3rd
of the wars and conflicts domiciled in it, the media of then still
had time to broadcast educative programmes for children and youths.
We also heard more from our parents. They contributed to the morals
of many today. All these programmes we reminisce today as growing
adults and we silently cry. The Tales by Moonlight (traditional
African stories of great and dynamic morals), the Village Headmaster
(western education in an indigenous act), Checkmate, Palace (showing
real fatherly love). There were many too in indigenous languages. How
about foreign ones? The most popular was the 'The Rich also Cry'.
This movie gave many of us the strong-will that money is not all. We
watched 'Passion' and realised the West (US) has charms and voodoo
power too. So educative and informative. Programmes with near-adult
contents like deep kissing were always broadcast at night where
parents would have guided their children
to bed. What we have today is extreme adult movies shown in broad
daylight even on weekends when children will be at home mostly likely
to view them. Where are the 'Power Rangers' and 'Voltron' that
simulate a quasi-technology desire in us? All gone. Mexican soaps and
even African-style porn mostly coming from Ghana have flooded the
media.
We are a continent of great cultural heritage, envied by
many in the world. Taking a leaf from China and India, we would see
and realise that their cultural pattern influenced their
developments. China's censorship of the media is mostly centred on
political events. She did not make the mistake of allowing her
awe-inspiring culture to be silenced. India is same. Porcelain today
is China's traditional commodity and now re-packaged to be accepted
in the modern world. Numerous documentaries about great China are
shown on CCTV. India is doing same in NDTV. What do we have in Metro
TV in Ghana? AIT and many others in Nigeria? Political news on
corruption always; making these nefarious ones popular rather than
contrast the past and their acts as well as broadcast programmes to
show the upcoming ones that this was not the way it was and it can
never continue. One day all must be revolutionalised for good. The
media has gone along with the society in the extremely colossal
search for wealth; thrown ethics, professionalism and objectivity
into the thrash bin. No investigative journalism.
Youths need to know that African women were not slaves
as portrayed by Western media. They need to know that traditional
leadership in Africa was based on the interest of the people not the
pockets. They need to know that slave trade and colonialism changed
all these. They need to learn about the Amazon of Dahomey. They must
know about Queen Amina of Zaria. They should be enlightened about
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti. They must know about the Queen mother in the
Kikuyu and Ashanti kingdoms. They must know how powerful they were
before and immediately after Western-infested contacts. The West
bribed African leaders and media not to broadcast 'The Root' again
claiming it makes African children and youths hate them. What
nonsense! So they never wanted hatred and they destroyed the future
from slave trade to colonialism and now neocolonialism. Besides, 'The
Root' never made us hate anyone, it built our resolve back then to
build our Africa because we could not withstood the sufferings and
felt we need to tell the world that Africa shall be free and
advanced. I am so sure it will do same magic to the coming ones too.
They
must learn that when African women were great traders and farmers,
German men used chains and padlocks to lock the private parts of
their women till around the 16th
century. They must know that no African woman ever disguised her name
to be accepted by the society. The TS Elliot and others of today were
women with the pseudonym of men because of the European male
stigmatisation of women. African youths must know that all these
historical and indigenous feats can be brought back and re-fashioned
with modern trends. They need to know that no place is like home. The
media needs to bring back the African nucleus for the coming
generation if truly Africa must advance.
