NEWS COMMENTARY DISCUSSES THE CHARLIE HEBDO MASSACRE, THE
MEDIA’S ABUSE OF FREE SPEECH, AND THE LESSONS THE GHANAIAN MEDIA COULD LEARN
FROM IT.
BY SOLOMON MENSAH, A FREELANCE JOURNALIST.
On the 7th of January, 2015, France and the world as a whole was thrown into a state of shock and dismay when gunmen stormed the offices of France’s satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and opened fire at the publication's staff, for repeatedly publishing irreverent cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The gunmen’s shooting spree saw dozens of people, including the editor of the weekly magazine and two police officers, losing their lives to the bullets of their attackers.
This barbaric incident perpetrated by the yet-to-be arrested gunmen, sparked anger and fury in France and across the world. Following this deadly attack, the news media has been flooded with messages of condolence and a call on the general public to give the media its right to ‘free speech’ in order to operate effectively.
Joining the White House, Francois Hollander, David Cameron, Angela Merkel, and Vladimir Putin among some other world leaders to condemn the Hebdo attack is our own first gentleman of the land, President John Dramani Mahama.
According to myjoyonline.com, the President at the 83rd annual congress of the Ahmadiya Muslim Mission, is quoted to have said, “Terrorist action in Paris led to the condemnable loss of 12 lives … all this is done in the name of religion, justified by theology.”
Indeed, every discerning mind must see how distasteful the Hebdo massacre is and speak in plain words against the attackers and would-be-attackers in the near future. The world has had enough of their bitter pills.
But, while we all lambast the nefarious acts of such religious extremists, we must, however, not forget to also throw a word of caution to the media. Indeed, he who condemns the attacks by extremists must equally condemn the works of the journalists who throw such caution to the wind.
A magazine's irreverent depictions of one’s sacred object of worship such as Prophet Mohammed is in a bad taste. No matter how much Islam abhors violence, such barbaric attacks on those who make ridicule of its object of worship are predictable. Does satire means dragging one’s image to the mud? Certainly not. Are there not a number of ways Charlie Hebdo could have satirically reached out to its audience without necessarily stepping on toes?
Freedom of speech has in many ways been abused by many media houses across the world. Here in Ghana, the media, especially the broadcast media, with specific reference to the Akan newsreaders trample on people’s dignity with the feet of ignorance all in the name of free speech. The press, undoubtedly, needs freedom of speech to operate but free speech to the press does not mean that every single word should leak out of the mouth of the Akan newsreader as freely as drops of milk leaves a mother’s breasts. It is about time the Akan newsreader realized that a loud-mouth is not synonymous to good journalism.
Another lesson the Ghanaian media could learn from the Charlie Hebdo attack is the tightening of security at their various entrances to their newsrooms. The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, of all the media houses that I have personally visited in the country, has the best of security check points at its entrance. Media owners must emulate the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s security example and invest heavily in providing proper security at their respective media houses’ entrances, for the safety of their workers, in order to prevent such an attack as witnessed in France.
The Charlie Hebdo disaster, whether we like it or not, has happened and we must as Ghanaians learn our lessons well. What every journalist must realize is that being given the freedom of speech to operate does not make you a cut-above but rather a cut-at-par.
BY SOLOMON MENSAH, A FREELANCE JOURNALIST.
On the 7th of January, 2015, France and the world as a whole was thrown into a state of shock and dismay when gunmen stormed the offices of France’s satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and opened fire at the publication's staff, for repeatedly publishing irreverent cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The gunmen’s shooting spree saw dozens of people, including the editor of the weekly magazine and two police officers, losing their lives to the bullets of their attackers.
This barbaric incident perpetrated by the yet-to-be arrested gunmen, sparked anger and fury in France and across the world. Following this deadly attack, the news media has been flooded with messages of condolence and a call on the general public to give the media its right to ‘free speech’ in order to operate effectively.
Joining the White House, Francois Hollander, David Cameron, Angela Merkel, and Vladimir Putin among some other world leaders to condemn the Hebdo attack is our own first gentleman of the land, President John Dramani Mahama.
According to myjoyonline.com, the President at the 83rd annual congress of the Ahmadiya Muslim Mission, is quoted to have said, “Terrorist action in Paris led to the condemnable loss of 12 lives … all this is done in the name of religion, justified by theology.”
Indeed, every discerning mind must see how distasteful the Hebdo massacre is and speak in plain words against the attackers and would-be-attackers in the near future. The world has had enough of their bitter pills.
But, while we all lambast the nefarious acts of such religious extremists, we must, however, not forget to also throw a word of caution to the media. Indeed, he who condemns the attacks by extremists must equally condemn the works of the journalists who throw such caution to the wind.
A magazine's irreverent depictions of one’s sacred object of worship such as Prophet Mohammed is in a bad taste. No matter how much Islam abhors violence, such barbaric attacks on those who make ridicule of its object of worship are predictable. Does satire means dragging one’s image to the mud? Certainly not. Are there not a number of ways Charlie Hebdo could have satirically reached out to its audience without necessarily stepping on toes?
Freedom of speech has in many ways been abused by many media houses across the world. Here in Ghana, the media, especially the broadcast media, with specific reference to the Akan newsreaders trample on people’s dignity with the feet of ignorance all in the name of free speech. The press, undoubtedly, needs freedom of speech to operate but free speech to the press does not mean that every single word should leak out of the mouth of the Akan newsreader as freely as drops of milk leaves a mother’s breasts. It is about time the Akan newsreader realized that a loud-mouth is not synonymous to good journalism.
Another lesson the Ghanaian media could learn from the Charlie Hebdo attack is the tightening of security at their various entrances to their newsrooms. The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, of all the media houses that I have personally visited in the country, has the best of security check points at its entrance. Media owners must emulate the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s security example and invest heavily in providing proper security at their respective media houses’ entrances, for the safety of their workers, in order to prevent such an attack as witnessed in France.
The Charlie Hebdo disaster, whether we like it or not, has happened and we must as Ghanaians learn our lessons well. What every journalist must realize is that being given the freedom of speech to operate does not make you a cut-above but rather a cut-at-par.