Ghana: Development Journalism Is the Order Of the Day

One trend that is emerging at the CNN African Journalists annual awards is that articles that centre on sustainable development, human interest, human rights and children and women are beginning to attract all the prizes.

In fact over the last five years the overall CNN African Journalist of the Year emerged from articles on such pertinent national and international issues that touch human lives or seek to draw the attention of policy makers towards areas that need urgent attention.

Who would have thought that an HIV/AIDS article would have won for the Zimbabwean journalist, the overall prize? After the awards, I read one newspaper article that vividly captured the fact that there was no award for political reporting. I thought the reporter did a good job picking that angle, because if journalists get to know that the kind of divisive political reports they churn out are not appreciated by many people, including the more discerning panelists of the CNN awards, they would begin to think twice.

At last year’s maiden BBC African Radio Awards held in Kenya, very serious issues on human rights abuses and development won the prizes. Our own Joy FM and Citi FM made us proud by getting the best news report and the best interactive morning programme awards.

This is not to suggest that political reporting is not appreciated, but to the extent that some of these stories are largely to blame for some of the political and ethnic troubles in many parts of Africa gives ample justification for the bad name the art of political reporting has gained. I’ll like to see the kind of political reporting that preaches national unity, heals wounds and creates a platform for dialogue, rather than name calling. Our inability to win many awards at the CNN event shows our lack of depth in reporting such pertinent development issues.

Every year, the United Nation’s Department of Public Information led by the renowned Indian Communicator, Shasho Tharoor, publishes the list of ten most pressing issues that needed media attention, but were ignored in favour of less pressing issues. I did not get this year’s list, but I suppose the list followed the same trend as previous years. Back in Ghana my own list of ten most pressing issues that did not get media attention last year and will definitely be ignored this year because of election 2008 will include;

1. Child labour and child prostitution

2. Female Genital Mutilation

3. Maternal mortality

4. Avoidable road accidents

5. Ethnic and Chieftaincy disputes

6. Climate change

7. Land disputes and their impact on economic development

8. School dropout rate

9. Soaring food prices

10. The scourged of armed robbery

In fact the list could be a hundred and more, given the state of human rights abuses and neglect at the rural areas. Most of these abuses go unreported because the rural areas are far from the urban centres, where almost all Ghanaian media are concentrated. There may be some FM radio stations at the rural areas, but their impact on influencing national policy has not been felt much.

All of us need to develop interest in and encourage reporters to cover the rural areas in particular, since the bulk of our people live there. I’ll like to see the CNN African Journalists award team institute an award for that category. Sometime back the Ghana Journalists Association used to award journalists in that category; I don’t know what has happened to that award.

In Tanzania for instance, they have put so much premium on rural reporting that they have even developed a manual for it. A section of the manual reads:

“If you are journalist engaged, or desiring to specialize, in rural journalism you must, quite importantly, be able to develop a clear picture of the social, economic and political life of the rural sector. A proper and comprehensive understanding of the rural sector is crucial for effective and objective reporting.” The question, who will assist in equipping journalists with such skills?

The role of journalists is very critical in the rural areas because governments lack enough information profiling the state of poverty in many areas. Besides,social services in rural areas are dogged with underperformance leading to poor delivery, despite attempts by the government to boost such sectors as education and health. Getting government or duty bearers to reach out to the rural less privileged will boil down to the use of communication to promote development. But it comes at a cost and that is why big corporations must sponsor awards in rural reporting. I’ll like to see the likes of MTN, Tigo etc, institute their own awards on specific areas of national development to encourage journalists to take interest in those areas.

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