The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has advised radio anchors to desist from pushing their opinions onto their listeners.
He made the statement at the World Radio Day forum, themed ‘Radio and diversity’ today, February 13, 2020, at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in Information and Communication Technology.
According to Mr Nkrumah, for diversity to be in the media industry, there should be acceptance of varying views, opinions and perspectives. However, some news anchors, especially, those on the radio are highly intolerant and also like to shove their viewpoints into the minds of their listeners.
“I want to speak specifically to our colleagues who are on the radio currently. There is a growing tendency of many of us who want to force our opinions down the ears and the minds of everybody else, if it’s not our opinion, then everybody else is wrong,” he said.
He also advised that radio anchors should desist from being judges when discussing national issues but should rather present assorted views and opinions for the listeners to take their sides.
“All must be reflected in the kind of conversations we want to have, so that we don’t end up being the judges of the discussion, but the consumer at home benefits from the various perspectives and in the end makes up his or her mind,” he stated.
He urged that all media channels, especially radio should design their platforms in a way that pushes the agenda of tolerance in the media industry.
“The concept of diversity that we are preaching here today means for those of us who are anchoring these programmes; for those of us who are in the industry, we must also be tolerant of other views. We have to design our platforms so it encourages diversity of opinions,” he concluded.
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