News:
June 21, 2011
The NPP Member of Parliament for Bosomtwi, Simon Osei Mensah, has cautioned the state owned Daily Graphic Newspaper against allowing itself to be used to churn out propaganda from the government.
According to the MP, the national daily is gradually building an image for being a conduit to through which the ruling government publishes factually inaccurate stories intended to paint a good image about the government.
The Daily Graphic Newspaper has in recent times come under fierce criticisms from a section of the public who have found everything wrong with the state newspaper continually being employed to do the bidding of the government.
The MP, cites several instances where the paper has been used to prop up the image of President Mills and his government including the supposed acclaiming of President Mills by the U.N Secretary General Ban Ki Moon as the best President in Ghana which turned out not to be the case as reported.
Just yesterday Monday 20th June, the paper published on its front page that the government has secured an amount of $400 million loan facility brokered by the Vice President John Mahama with the World Bank to finance four major projects across the country, a good news which was hailed by supporters of the ruling party but later turned out to be factually inaccurate, causing the spokesperson of the Vice President John Jinapor to issue a release to clarify and set the records straight.
Speaking on Oman FM, the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwi, Simon Osei Mensah condemned the gradual trend of the Graphic Newspaper being used as a mouth piece of the ruling government.
He said the paper has gained credibility over the many years since its establishment and it was important that the managers of the paper took immediate measures to preserve the hard earned credibility.
“I find it difficult to understand why all the propaganda stories about the NDC government end up on the front pages of the paper, and incidentally they always turn out to be false, what is the government’s motive for doing this, he asked?
Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh