Fiifi

Do it again and again, Kurt. One thing to applaud @ghanafaofficial President Kurt Okraku for is the help he and his associates often give to the less privileged. We've seen it several times. Today’s support for distressed mothers at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital means a lot. Paying GHS84,000 in outstanding medical bills on behalf of the @GhanaBlackstars is huge relief for these mothers. We may disagree with how the GFA President runs the Black Stars and our football, but humanitarian gestures that help vulnerable people can’t be faulted. Anyone who knows how hard it is for some people to pay medical bills in Ghana now will understand the impact of this support. These women may not even know the state of Ghana football but they’ll appreciate this generosity. The heart that gives is a heart God blesses. Do it again and again, Kurt.

A candid observation. There appears to be too much chaos on radio and television lately. Growing up as a teen during the liberalisation of the airwaves in the mid-90s, radio and television seemed more decent, with more mature conversations than I see today. Crossfire on @Joy997FM was tough to listen to, but you appreciated the arguments even if you disagreed with some of the views. Newsfile on @Joy997FM then, which I started listening to around 1999 or 2000, was also less rowdy and more decent. You would not find the sort of things you now see on @GTV_Ghana’s morning show. I did not watch @metrotvgh then due to connectivity issues in Koforidua, and when @tv3_ghana came, it added a lot of spice to television viewing with some entertaining and well-informed news content. I dare say all the media outlets I have mentioned, along with some of their affiliates today, have in recent times allowed too much substandard behaviour and content into their programming and panelling, something that was not as pronounced as it is presently. My major issue is with the control and management of panels, especially on news and current affairs or political shows. Some of these media houses can do better. Panellists must cultivate the discipline of listening or taking notes while others speak and responding only when they are done. Interruptions could be acceptable only when allowed by the host or presenter, because after all these shows are interactive, not monologues. I won’t blame the guests that much. It behoves hosts and presenters to exercise better judgement, fairness, firmness and control over the guests they invite. This habit of interrupting while another has the floor is a nuisance; immature and unwise. And these are adults, not children, placed on such platforms. Show hosts and their producers must do better if those invited will not learn. What is trendy or professional about rowdy, heated, usually insult-laced exchanges? What is there to be proud of such insolent, noisy content, which is unashamedly posted on the networks' own handles? Again, I say media houses and their talk show hosts can do better. Programmes are consistently populated with educated yet ill-mannered guests, often informed merely because there must be representation? Please, control your panel and insist on mutual respect. Otherwise, stop inviting chaotic, intemperate, sometimes uncultured and unruly guests. Is media literacy that low in our media houses? Not exactly on some of the networks I have mentioned. What’s wrong then? Perhaps it is an issue of conduct, bad conduct by some guests. If so-called educated panellists can’t extend decorum and courtesy to one another, producers and programme managers have a duty to their audiences. Your audiences deserve sane, informed conversations, not noisy, disruptive interactions. They serve no purpose. Political conversations on radio and television, no matter how you disagree with others must be devoid of insults and barefaced lies that often trigger noisy interruptions.