GBC Director-General Urges Wariness Of New Media

The Director-General of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Professor Amin Alhassan says the new media, commonly referred to as social media, is a double-edged sword. Laying emphasis on the other side of social media, the Director-General noted that the services provided by such platforms are gambles of information and misinformation with the latter causing irreparable damage to victims.

Addressing a forum organized by the Ghana Journalists Association, GJA, at the British Council in Accra, to mark the first anniversary of the new leadership of the GJA, Prof. Amin Alhassan came heavy on the new media for excesses exemplifying the lack of ethical boundaries within that scope. According to him, the frenzy about social media has blown away thinking caps in some cases, and the distortions associated with them mislead people to think and act wrongly.

The media on haywire can cause all kinds of setbacks including deaths if not held in check. The GBC Director-General who directs traditional media that incorporates the new media, stated that the new media offer a boundless scope for exploratory activities. Outcomes are untested before their deployment to society.

The tech giants whose creations are social media apps exert editorial control in line with parochial interests. He said that has ceded editorial judgment of a wider spectrum of the combination to profiteers of the domain made for the conventional journalist who provides service with responsibility.

Prof. Amin Alhassan would not end his presentation without drawing attention to the inverse relationship between practitioners of both media handles with regard to their earnings. He said it flies in the face of the order that the experienced practitioners within traditional media earn abysmally low salaries as against the lavish rewards for the youth engaged in social media.

He said, his points must not be taken out of context because he understands the import of social media such as the speedy and innovative delivery or transmission of information material. What he addressed most concerning new media were the demerits, especially how to contain an aspect that appears to be running amok.