By Ameenu Shardow
I am exercising a lot of restraint in writing about this issue which shouldn’t be at all in the first place.
Why should people who ought to know better hide behind the pretext of someone being a star to put such sensitive issues out there in the public domain.
We as journalists are privileged enough to use our God-given talents and knowledge acquired to help impact positively onto society.
I have no problem at all with the principle of trying to unite and bring sanity to the family of Ghana’s current biggest footballer, Michael Essien. My main problem is the method its being done.
A journalist doesn’t necessarily need to put issues in the public domain to achieve the desired results, especially private ones.
Even me, an up and coming journalist have the capacity to contact Essien if I wish to, how much more those senior ones who even have an official channel.
Have they contacted Michael on the quiet to advice him on the matter and he has refused?
In fact, I believe very much that their actions have made matters even worse. Those journalists doing this injustice in my candid opinion would not be amused at all to say the least if some of the skeletons in their closet is put out there in the public domain like that.
They even go the length to liken it to the John Terry saga, another big mistake. Forgetting that Terry’s issue became critical when it started telling on his performance on the field of play.
Can they prove concretely whether Michael’s performance is not up to scratch and link it with his personal issues?
Even if they can, is it the right way to do it just because it happened elsewhere forgetting that the norms, values and culture of England is different from ours.
This is no joke, these are people I look up to as MENTORS and they have disappointed me BIG TIME.
To the extent that insults are heaped on him even though to be fair, the moderator restrained callers in a call in session on one of Ghana’s biggest sports programs. Lets not rush to cause damage to one of our own only to look back and regret and wished we had handled it in a different manner.
As far as I am concerned, a public figure’s private life remains private until it can be proved beyond reasonable doubts that it has an adverse effect in discharging his or her duties.
A lot of issues concerning Michael Essien’s lack of care for his father has characterized the airwaves here in Ghana following an interview that was granted to an Accra based radio station, by Michael’s father, James Essien.
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