There is no doubt TV 3 is basking in their well-deserved ‘fame and attention’ Ghanaian internet natives/citizens, (Ghaintezens, I call them) have accorded the station in the last couple of weeks on social media, courtesy Nana Aba Anamoah’s ‘social media joke/blunder.’ If any serious pollster conducted studies on which media outlet in the country has been a household name in the said time, there is no doubt TV 3 would top the chart. From Twitter to Facebook, there is not a single social media platform that has been spared the trendy subject of Nana Aba photo-theft saga, which created impression that she was at Old Trafford albeit otherwise (from here on referred to as #NanaAbaWasThere). And since most Ghanaians are aware of how Nana Aba adores her professional romance with TV 3, it is very tempting for people to think that the social media jokes and backlash the young lady attracted from lots of people and courageously took them in her stride would negatively affect her employers, TV 3 and hence the decision by the latter to suspend her. But that’s where they would be wrong. Anyone who fell for this thought would be guilty of failing to observe the line, no matter how blurred, that exists between organizations and their employees when the convoluted variable of social media is added to that equation. Elsewhere, organizations are hiring potential employees based on the number of followers they have on social media. In fact, a 2014 survey by  CareerBuilder in the United Sates found that 14% percent of employers said they were likely to employ someone because s/he had large following or subscribers on social media[i].

In an era where employers have found various means of turning the huge following of their employees on social media to their advantage including monetizing their presence on social media sites, one would think that TV 3 would at least be discrete, even in a circumstance where suspension was well deserved and not fly itself into a ditch by the way they handled the Nana Aba issue. Of course, many would argue that this publicity could not necessarily pass for a positive one for TV 3. However, from the other side, the marks suggesting that this has brought the name of TV 3 into ethical disrepute and made the TV station, the darling of many Ghanaians in terms of program quality and picture clarity, a subject of public ridicule as we are made to believe are also lacking. Don’t get me wrong, this is not to condone any act by any employee that puts his or her company at a disadvantage in a world of fierce competition on social media. But it is hard to believe that Nana Aba’s action on social media carried any of the following themes; revealing company’s secrets, kiss-and-tell tale of relevant sales and marketing dossier, weakening the trust of both existing and potential clients as well as putting the lives of her colleagues in danger. The list of social media gaffes that could warrant similar reactions from employers is endless but certainly does not include the ‘#Nana Aba was there blunder. As many would agree, although there exists a blurred line between one’s privacy and professional life, employers of course have the right to take disciplinary measures against employees whose certain actions on social media affect the image of the company. No wonder in the same study cited above, CraeerBuilders found that 41% of employees had set their social media profiles to private while 18% of them say they separated their personal and professional profiles. Maybe it’s high time we took a cue from this.

In the case of Nana Aba, I lean towards the corner that makes the case that TV 3 management’s decision could at best be described as hasty, premature and an ‘over-kill’. It is a dangerous decision and precedent that must be quickly reverted by the management to save its face in the eyes of the public. For how different would this action be from a repressive government that gags and imprisons journalists for carrying out their duties? For how could a media house that thrives on the values and principles of freedom of speech and expression turn around to ‘victimize’ its own staff for what we all know is a social blunder.

It thus comes as least surprise to me that while a few people may agree with the decision by the management of TV 3 to suspend Nana Aba from off air until further notice, many are rather quite outraged by the decision. The tone of the latter including some highly respected lawyers have been that the lady in question, always poised with confidence on steroids has been given an unfair dose of punishment from TV 3. Multimedia’s fine legal brain cum broadcaster, Samson Ayenini took to social media and provided free legal insights into issues in the public sphere, asked TV 3 to show Ghanaians what part of their ethical code of conduct she had breached and asked Nana Aba to ‘call their bluff and move on.”

I conclude this with a question to the management of our treasured private television pacesetter and that is; if this blunder had been caused by a male news/sports broadcaster, would it have attracted same punitive measure?

Please recall Nana Aba Anamoah.

By Kingsley Kwadwo Antwi-Boasiako

Ohio University, Athens Ohio, USA.

kingsboygh@gmail.comt