Media asked to be responsible

Right Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, on Tuesday called on the media to responsibly exercise press freedom guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution, to safeguard the nation’s democracy.

In addition, the media should ensure that a platform was not created for people to recklessly destroy the reputation of others.

Rt-Rev.Martey made the call when delivering his Easter Message to the Faithful in Ghana in Accra.

He said the message of Easter being proclaimed also challenges—head-on—those in Ghanaian society, who espoused political violence, criminal violence and the violence of corrupt exploitation.

“It challenges those who fall into the purposeless violence we sadly encounter, almost every day, on our streets and homes.”

Rt-Rev. Martey said: “It is sad to observe that the peace we have in Ghana is being threatened through the activities of political activists and social commentators who have made it a habit of using the media to incite violence and also use abusive language against anyone who shares his or her objective opinion on topical national issues.

“Since press freedom is guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution, the media ought to responsibly exercise that freedom to safeguard the nation’s democracy, and also see to it that a platform is not created for people to recklessly destroy the reputation of others.

Rt-Rev. Martey said  both Christian leaders and journalists in Ghana had great lessons to learn from the message that Easter brings.

He said : “For instance, I am yet to see any political party leader condemning people of his or her own party for insulting their opponents or tarnishing the reputation of other party members. They only point to the foul and obscene language of other party members, not theirs.

Rt-Rev. Martey said Ghana would have peaceful elections in December if political leaders would follow the footsteps of Jesus, the truly Chosen One.

Source: GNA