Veteran Journalist, Cameron Duodu has revealed how Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah called State Broadcaster, Radio Ghana, which is now Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, over an error they committed during a broadcast.
Read full articleHe revealed this while recounting his journey as a journalist over the years, having begun his career at a very young age in the 50s.
Speaking to Ismail Akwei on GhanaWeb TV’s ‘The Lowdown’, Cameron Duodu explained that accurate reportage was the benchmark of journalism in his time.
For journalists at Radio Ghana, under the Ghana Broadcasting Coporation, Mr. Duodu explained that a particular incident that happened kept them even more on their toes.
According to him, then Prime Minister, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah phoned the newsroom at one time to raise concerns about a spelling error they had committed during a broadcast.
“Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who was then the Prime Minister of Ghana once telephoned the newsroom of Radio Ghana and he told us that we had said that the dam was being built at ‘Konsombo’ and that it wasn’t ‘Konsombo’ but ‘Akosombo’ and he spelt it to us so just imagine this happening and everybody knew.
“They said, ‘eii Prime Minister listening to us, we must be accurate oh,” he added.
Cameron Duodu added that he had been trusted with reporting on big topical issues because he had trained himself to accurately and factually report, as is required in the journalism profession.
“In those days, the radio was the most authoritative media in the country so if you made a mistake, misquoted somebody or gave an untrue fact, they will be on you in a minute and it was so disgraceful so you had to be very very careful... I trained myself to be able to report accurately, reflect what people were saying and I was sent to parliament as a parliamentary reporter; the worst thing you can think of because as you know, politicians are very interested in being quoted accurately because if you quote them and make an error, it goes to the constituents and they will not be elected again.
“So they were very very interested in making sure that we reported them properly...Because I managed to report accurately, I was sent to all the assignments,” he added.
Watch the full interview below:
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