'Stop embellishing news items'

Saturday, August 14, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 34)

By Rebecca Kwei
A LINGUIST and broadcaster, Nana Anima Wiafe-Akenten, has called on local language newsreaders to avoid embellishing and exaggerating news items since it has the tendency to create conflict or incite a group against the other.
She noted that some of the proverbs, idiomatic expressions and other literally devices used by the newsreaders most of the time distorts the core message, leads to misreporting and misinformation, subjects the news to different interpretation, and tends to attack or abuse the newsmaker. 
“Some of the translators although may mean well, cast innuendoes and use invectives and end up attacking the personality behind the issue or newsmakers. It is culturally unacceptable to speak ill of an elderly person,” she said.
Mrs Wiafe-Akenten made the call when she made a presentation on “Language, Culture and the Media”, at a workshop organised by the Cultural Initiative Support Programme in Akosombo.
Giving the example of the Rwandan conflict, she said it was just a statement made on radio which led to the war in that country and there was the need for local language news readers, especially, in Akan to be cautious of how they presented the news.
She said the liberalisation of the airwaves had led to the emergence of many radio and television stations which was a welcome idea but there was the need to draw attention to certain developments which if not checked, may adversely affect the essence of news presentation and pose serious challenges to cultural values and the art of speaking.
Mrs Wiafe-Akenten said when newsreaders embellish or exaggerate the news items, some people saw it as the creativity of the presenters or their proficiency in the language but noted that from the communication point of view, that was inappropriate and could be said to lack professionalism.
Additionally, she said, the audience tend to focus on the embellishment by trying to understand the proverbs, idioms and other devices being used, rather than focusing on the news and what was supposed to be a serious issue became a form of entertainment.
She said there were culturally relevant and acceptable ways to use a language by paying attention to the norms and rules that governed the use of the language.
“In the Akan language, certain concepts are considered literally unmentionable, that is, verbal taboos. For instance, if one has to mention the male and female reproductive organs in a given context, he/she has to use a euphemism” she explained.
She said in the Akan cultural context, unapologetic use of those words made the speaker’s audience see him/her as uncouth or uncultured.
She observed that over the years, finding a fair balance between what was culturally acceptable and journalistically correct have been compromised all in the name of “scoop — being the first to break the news”.
In an effort to make the Ghanaian media one that is linguistically, journalistically and culturally sound, Mrs Wiafe-Akenten said a group known as Language Watchers made up of linguist, language experts and media practitioners will soon come out to monitor and help curb the use of insulting, inflammatory and harsh words in the media by social commentators, phone in callers, presenters and politicians.