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| Nana Aba Anamoah |
Last week, ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ alleged judicial corruption
scandal temporarily submerged to give way for all aspects of the Ghanaian media to talk on TV3 Network’s anchor, Nana Ama Anamoah on her purported social media
picture theft.
Nana Aba Anamoah on September 27, 2015, published on Twitter some
photographs suggesting she was at a Manchester United football game in London.
Nana Aba further stated that she had seen some of her favorite
football players who play for the Manchester football club. The mere fact of
seeing such soccer stars, she said, made her a f**l.
Her tweet later panned out to be a
trailer in Manila as owners of the pictures she tweeted accused her of stealing
their pictures. This, social media fanatics spoke about it and made a ridicule
of the celebrated television news anchor by posting all kinds of edited
pictures in which Nana Aba was made to pose in such pictures.
Notable among such pictures was the historic picture of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his comrades at the phenomenal 6th March, 1957 declaration of Ghana’s independence. As if that was not
enough, the hashtag ‘Nana Aba was there’ accompanied the pictures making it
highly embarrassing for the news anchor and her employers.
Following this development and other issues undisclosed, TV3
Network on October 3, 2015, released a press statement citing Nana Aba for unprofessionalism and
subsequently taking her off air until further notice.
"If one fish in the basket rots", our wise elders
say, "they all rot." In this light, the TV3 Network would immediately
take Nana Aba off air before things go out of
hand in order not for the public to tag the station as a bunch of
unprofessional individuals.
We must congratulate TV3 for this bold step. On the
international media landscape, this sanctioning of media persons is not
uncommon. A mention could be made of the British Broadcasting Corporation once
suspending top gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson after a fracas with his producer.
However, while we pat the shoulders of TV3 for showing a
level of professionalism, we must not forget to tell them in the face that they
are equally to be blamed for what has befallen them.
A Dagbani proverb says that if you see a pregnant goat in the market,
it means that there are pregnant troubles at home. Indeed, for TV3 to finally
offer onto the ‘Ghanaian market of interrogations’ Nana Aba Anamoah, who has been pregnant
with uncultured mouth for over a period of time now makes it clear that there
are pregnant troubles at TV3.
Not long ago, Nana Aba Anamoah in a live telecast on TV3 poured rains of insult on an Accra based
television station, Viasat1, calling the station a ‘kontomire farm.’
This was in relation to what was supposed to be a comic
awards organized by Viasat1 which scored low marks for TV3’s New Day programme. This, Nana Aba deemed an insult to her station and would
not even be stopped from trading insults on air by her co-host, Benny Blanco.
TV3 Network, then, did not release a statement to apologize for the bluff of its anchor, especially for her
unprofessionalism. After all, Nana Aba Anamoah is not the PRO of TV3 to have reacted to Viasat1 in such a
manner.
If Nana Aba was rebuked internally for her Viasat1 comments, we cannot
tell since the public does not work with TV3 in its newsroom. Silence, they say
means concerned and Nana Aba would have the consent of TV3 to talk and act with such
impudence.
Things
have escalated to the highest degree but we must not totally condemn Nana Aba
Anamoah for there is more room for improvement.
In
hard times like this, Nana Aba Anamoah should be strong enough to stay resolute of the public’s possible further ridiculing.
Other media houses and the corporate world in general must all learn a lesson from
this development. We must not let words freely leak out of our mouths as
breasts milk leaves a mother’s breast. We must rebuke ourselves
whenever the other person goes wrong.
Most importantly, we must be circumspect of our actions and
inactions within and outside the walls of our work places and especially on
social media.
The Igbos of Nigeria teach in a proverb that a person whose father
received a bullet in the head uses an iron pot as a helmet.
By Solomon Mensah
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