Wednesday’s Minority Caucus on MultiTV, according programme host Yaw Buaben Asamoa, will focus on the media landscape in the country. Addressing the issues will be the Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party Nana Akomea. According to the synopsis “The cut and thrust of politics is fuelled by the ‘word’. From the days of the soap box, when the word had to be spoken directly to a willing crowd, through the heydays of printing when the easily distributed page became king, the word can now instantaneously reach a worldwide audience through a technology driven multimedia platform based on the internet. The sheer variety of multimedia opportunities for getting the word out to a richly varied audience also delivers enormous challenges of exploitation in an optimum manner. “Newspapers and flyers played key roles in the independence movement. After independence, governments continued to rely on newspapers and broadcasting to get out its programmes and receive feedback. Very often, as the quality of governance deteriorated, restrictions on media deepened. Unscrupulous rulers try to project the word in ways they think favourable to them whilst suppressing non favourable messages. “From a media licensing regime over 22years ago, some contend Ghana has moved too far, too quickly to an environment of near absolute freedom. Many fear a tyranny of the media rather than enlightenment. After the repeal of the criminal libel law by then Attorney General Nana Addo on behalf of the Kufuor administration, the media scene in Ghana has exploded with multiple outlets and programmes most of which appear to be focused on passing on political information. From 6 am to 10 am and later in the afternoon and evening, there is no end of programmes and platforms offering either direct political fare or indirect engagement involving politicians commenting on current issues. Tonight, Hon. Nana Akomea, MP for Okaikoi South, shares with Minority Caucus his view of the ultra fast media landscape from the vantage point of his perch as the Director of Party and Campaign Communications for the NPP. “Minority Caucus wonders; 1. If there is a valid basis for arguing a state of media tyranny? 2. How the NPP is coping with the surfeit of media platforms? 3. If there can be meaningful communication in the cacophony of media outlets? 4. Whether there are any winners or losers in the politico-media war of words?”