EDITORIAL: The Loud Silence – Why Is The Western North Media Quiet On Galamsey, Cocoa and Pressing Issues?

EDITORIAL: The Loud Silence – Why Is The Western North Media Quiet On Galamsey, Cocoa and Pressing Issues?

The media in Western North was once vibrant, fearless and loud. Every morning, the airwaves were full of galamsey, poor roads, cocoa pricing and the failures of government. The previous Regional Minister could not sleep a day without being on the neck of the media, because we held him accountable. We prided ourselves as the fourth estate.

Today, the silence is deafening.

Galamsey has tripled in our rivers. Our water bodies in Bibiani, Wiawso and Akontombra are brown. Cocoa farmers have just had their price slashed from GH¢3,625 to GH¢2,587 and they are crying, but no editorial, no morning show heat, no press conference. Other pressing issues – youth unemployment, bad roads, abandoned projects – have all been swept under the carpet.

The question we must ask ourselves as media practitioners is simple: Why the selective journalism?

Was the media hardly on the neck of the previous NPP administration because we were being professional, or is it now silent because some of us are enjoying our share of the national cake?

The standard cannot change because the government has changed. The value of journalism cannot be different under a new administration. If we were not paid to be silent then, we should not be paid to be silent now.

What has changed? Have we been settled? Have we been compromised? Have we suddenly become satisfied with the same things we condemned yesterday?

This editorial is a mirror to all of us. The people of Western North are watching. The farmers, the miners, the youth, the market women – they trusted us to be their voice. If we fail to speak for them today, we have no moral right to speak tomorrow.

The energy that was used in the previous administration must be used now. That is fair, that is professional, that is what we have always been proud of.

Let us go back to the basics – bold, fair, and fearless journalism for Western North.