The big problem with the news, economist and author Steven Landsburg declares, is that it is reported by journalists, which statement is most startling, for who else but journalists, are supposed to report the news? Landsburg concedes, in spite of his confusing argument, that it is better to let journalists report the news than assign them to design road bridges. Automobiles would plunge off roads into rivers all over the place. Why? Journalists are not trained to design bridges any more than shoe-mending cobblers are trained to fly planes. So what? So having been trained for the task, journalists will continue to wield full monopoly over the reporting of the news and in the process, report only what they deem important to report and in a way that suits their editorial agenda. Have times not changed and that monopoly broken? Have the so-called citizen journalism and the other so-called new journalisms not made it possible for the public to now engage directly in or influence the reporting of the news? The answer, I daresay, is that in spite of the new technologies-facilitated merging of various "journalisms", traditional journalism will continue to flourish far above the rest, because it is an authentic, intellectual and literary art form in the world of communication that is markedly distinct from the posting of bits and pieces of information on the Internet by non-professionals. What are you driving at? What is precisely the point of all this crap? The point, old chap, is that for better or for worse, and whether or not we like it, professional journalists will continue to be the main source of the news we consume. What we may be able to do though, is keep a bit of salt around and consume every news report with a pinch of the old soup taste sharpener! That is especially essential because journalists and media owners have friends among those who control our lives by virtue of being in authority. I personally think that there has been under-reporting of the real level of gravity of the energy crisis ravaging the republic. When it comes to matters of utility politics, technocrats tend to talk above our heads and politicians are not known to be the most liberal with the truth when it comes to public communication, so we depend on the media to tell us the truth. Yet from media reports, the real reasons for the crisis are still far from clear and it worsening by the minute. Jomo, should you ever stumble upon a word which aptly describes the progressive degeneration of a never-ending, fiercely galloping national crisis to a point where having spiraled completely out of control and not being able to get any worse, simply dissolves into a nightmare with a capital N, please let me know! We thought we had seen the worst of them imaginable when the 1995 energy crisis limited electricity supply to domestic consumers, to 12 hours of erratic supply every other day or 24 hours of supply every three days if you like, but nothing beats the nightmare raging on. What a crying, shrieking, screaming shame, Jomo: Imagine widespread power cuts on the 56th anniversary of Ghana's independence from colonial rule. For the very first time in millenniums, 1 missed my favourite activity of the annual Independence Day celebrations-the anniversary parade of school pupils and personnel of the security services. Pissed off silly by a power outage on the morning of the anniversary on Wednesday, I whipped out my decades-old little transistor which I keep like a prized trophy more for its antique value than anything else, and fed a couple of dry cells batteries into it, muttering all the while about the weird concept of progressive retrogression in the lives of some republics in our region. I turned the dial for a while and Holy Moses, there was Dr Kwame Nkrumah making an animated speech about the heroic role of freedom fighters in the emancipation of the African continent from the clutches of colonialism, the continued aggression and oppressive stance of the neocolonialist establishment and the need for an African Military Command... Then surprise, surprise, power came on. I switched on the television, wondering if power would not go off again in 10 seconds flat. President Mahama was in the middle of his anniversary address. A crumb of bread is better than no loaf, Jomo, so I listened to what was left of the big man's speech. It was about hope and the prospects of economic recovery but then the president repeated some messages about coming austerity and planned cuts on fiscal spending and on waste. Amid the crises in not only electricity but also in water supply, the big man asked all and sundry to be more judicious in the use of public utilities. Do you see what I see, Jomo? Unwittingly perhaps, the president seemed to be getting back at those who seem to depend on his ability to carry the nation and everything in it on his shoulders like a reincarnated Charles Atlas. Political opponents frequently target the person of the president in partisan political conversations relating to national challenges. Now, the man says while every leader must the people and lead them toward its realisation, the people must play their role in the pursuit of national goals. True when the chips in our hectic pursuit of national progress are down, the president must take the blame but hey, how much does the fact of his clasping a large chunk of blame in his hands really amount to, in a case in which it is our collective destiny that is at stake? From the widest possible perspective, the somewhat strange challenges which have emerged in the wake of the recent transition in political administration {labour strikes and threats of strikes, power cuts, water shortages, etc} and especially the state of the economy, are certainly not about Mahama but the cumulative consequences of flawed planning over a long period. Anaa..? Let him fix the problems. That is what he has been elected to do. That is what some folks say. The President apparently is determined to: No fools will be fooling around on the next April Fools' Day because it will be a day of dead serious business in the quest for progress: With effect from April 1, all ministers of state will be required to stick religiously to a ministers' manual developed by President Mahama to guide the ministers toward the achievement of the goals of a three-year development plan which the president, has drawn up to lead us to paradise. The man says in the pursuit of the goals of the three-year plan, he will expect from all public and civil service bureaucrats and their staff, a high level of professionalism. He will demand that they remain professional, civil, efficient, non-partisan and humble in the performance of their functions. Fantastic,Jomo. Absolutely fantastic. Now that the president has brandished the green flag, reporters may want to keep an unbiased eye out to see just how well public and civil servants take the president's admonishment heart.