When They Don't Know Where You Belong

By Antoinette Herrmann-Condobrey


Left: Stephen Anti: News Editor at Multimedia Ghana and host of PM Express

Quite frustrated by attempts to pin him to different political parties on different occasions, depending on his views on different issues, a colleague of mine - news editor and broadcast journalist - Stephen Anti, writes: "I hate it when I speak my mind and people say – ‘aaargh I said it, his true colour is NDC’. Other times they say -'Hah U see the NPP mole'." He grumbles, "What at all is this?”



 responded: Well guy, let me first of all tell you that my own family's opinion of me is more confused than

those you're talking about. Today, I’m NDC; tomorrow, I'm NPP. They just don't get it, and you can't change it. How much more your audience - a good number of whom may h

ave personal and/or direct attachments to the stuff you base your discussions and/or dare to voice your opinions on? Are you telling me you don't realize being perceived that way is a good thing? The left says he belongs to the right. The right says, oh that leftist; don't mind him. Does that not mean that the people who criticize you so harshly don’t know where you belong politically? To me, that is a sign that you are doing the right thing, as a journalist.

And by the way, who says journalists can't have leanings? And who cares if someone knows our leanings, for as long as we strive for objectivity and comprehensiveness in our work and not letting the personal cloud our judgment of the issues?

Some may bet to differ but I say unless it is a text book, research findings or other kinds of intellectual material – even in the face of objectivity, a bit of the author’s/moderator’s/interviewer’s personal thoughts – which may not always sit well with everybody – only makes an interview, a discussion or a writing more relatable to our audiences. Otherwise, we appear as robots, uninvolved, even phony at times in trying to prove our neutrality to the world.

Finally, if you ask me, I'll say some of these name calling are attempts - calculated or uncalculated - by some people, to rob us of what we believe in as individuals and our rights as fellow citizens: An attempt, if not a way, to corner and shut us up. So shut up there already with your complaint, colleague! Keep doing the right thing and leave them confused and debating what your "true colors" are.