LETTER TO XEXEMUXE Dear Xexe, I often dont give titles to my letters to you. The last time l did so, it was for Tutulapato; when TV3 shortchanged him. This time the spotlight is on GJA and the awards. My title is this: CONGRATS AKU, SHAME GJA Xexe, there has never been a time when anyone won GJA Journalist of the Year and we called senior journalists and previous winners of that award to comment and they declined comment. This time, not a single person we called to speak about the award agreed to speak openly. Contrarily, a few spoke in private and described the award as shambolic. They had their reasons. Xexe, l would personally not take anything away from the winner, Mabel Aku Baneseh. I actually congratulate her. She is a fantastic journalist by all standards. But so are many other journalists in the country. What would make her senior colleagues and predecessors describe the choice of her as the top winner this year as shambolic and a shame to our profession, may be because it frowns on our place as the fourth estate of the realm and a watchdog of society. Xexe, for one, the GJA president admitted on one breath that something went wrong, but on another breath he said the winner deserved it. An awards committee member declined to answer if indeed the committee chose Aku over all else. He was dodgy to say the least. So lets look at the substance and some interpretations. First off, Xexe, Aku won two awards, one of which was based on her reports from the Presidential Petition hearing in the Supreme Court. Brilliant work she did from the court, but so did many other journalists who covered the proceeding from day one till the end. It was nothing special. Besides the proceeding was live on national TV so it was a bit confusing for the GJA president to have said Akus reports were very informative. It was all obvious for us to see. So I am still yet to understand what was special about it. For a category award, it was okay, but as the basis for overall award, well, I did not have to pass judgment. The former award winners think it was not the best of decisions, if indeed the committee took that decision. Secondly, one other person won four awards on the night, and it became obvious to everyone present, probably including Aku herself that Kwetey Nettey was the man for the night. But no. Thirdly, in terms of impact, in 2013, no JOURNALISTIC WORK (not live TV show of court proceedings) made more impact on our lives and our economy than the new names for corruption; GYEEDA, SADA, SUBAH. Apparently, the man behind GYEEDA and SADA revelations won the Anti-Corruption Reporter of the Year for a relatively minor revelation at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. The gargantuan revelations about GYEEDA and SADA, their impact in terms of change of boards, retrieval of millions of Ghana cedis, suspension of contracts and the eventual sack of a Cabinet Minister did not mean anything to the GJA. Xexe, I am wondering if we are encouraging journalists to be watchdogs or we want to encourage something else. I thought we try to figure out special works of journalism and what they did for our country to reward those? Indeed, some won the top awards in the past because of entries, but several others like Kwaku Baako, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, Komla Dumor, Kofi Akordor, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo and many others won the top award not because of their entries, but because of the OBVIOUS IMPACT of their journalistic works over the period under review. Xexe, I dont even know if Manasseh Azure submitted GYEEDA and SADA reports for awards. But I do not need to know because this is not about Manasseh. It is about the impact of those reports. The impact alone makes it an obvious winner. And that was exactly the line the previous winners drew between Akus supposed informative court report and the Bongo boys chronicles of his expedition to GYEEDALAND & SADALAND. So Xexe, I honestly congratulate Aku for her victory. I think she deserves it any day like Kwetey Nettey and Manasseh did. But honestly, on this particular occasion others deserved it better, but for the alleged last minute machinations by some GJA executives without recourse to the awards committee. Xexe, for that l say shame to GJA. What they have done is to put an otherwise brilliant journalist in the line of fire, and made her a collateral damage due to GJAs own shambles. Now some are even reading politics into it: that Aku got the award because her report suited the govt of the day, as they won the Supreme Court case. But the GYEEDA and SADA stories were shortchanged because they did not suit the sitting govt. Totally unnecessary. Shame on GJA. Sad day for journalism in Ghana, Xexe.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 13:15:49 +0000
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