With the complaint by President Mahama that his ‘transformational message’ is being “blocked or distorted” by the media, the Daily Statesman, Friday 21, 2016, decided to monitor the major news bulletin of GTV, the state broadcaster, at 7pm.
And it was revealing to note that even though as many as six activities involving President Mahama and the governing NDC were featured, none involving any of the opposition parties was featured.
The news bulletin began with President Mahama’s inauguration of a new fleet of buses for the State Transport Company, and quickly followed up with a news item of Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur speaking against the NPP Manifesto in Cape Coast.
Right after that, another news item on the Vice President at the Fosu College of Education was broadcasted.
GTV again followed it up with another news item on Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff, who was also in the Brong Ahafo region campaigning for President Mahama and the NDC.
GTV again fed viewers with a news item on the First Lady, Lordina Mahama, who had donated some items to a hospital, before showing a news item which was not related to politics. But that was quickly followed by a story of a group known as ‘Transformational Ladies’, a wing of NDC, making a donation to the Osu Children’s home.
With two slots for advertisement before the business segment, GTV dedicated one slot for an NDC campaign advert and the other for a home appliance company, Hisense, before coming back with business news on the Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, claiming that the economy was projected to grow in 2017.
Again, another time was allotted for an NDC campaign advertisement before the state broadcaster started its international news.
Strangely, the state broadcaster did not find it worthwhile to carry any news item involving the the main opposition NPP whose Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, and Running Mate, Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, were also campaigning at differerent locations just the same time their counterparts in the governing NDC were doing same.
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