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Manasseh Azure should stop practising "crass journalism" - Paul Adom-Otchere

Paul Adom-Otchere, host of Metro TV's 'Good Evening Ghana' has slammed investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure for his practice style.

Paul Adom-Otchere

He said the kind of journalism being practiced by the former Multimedia employee is "poverty journalism"

In an editorial on his popular programme on Thursday evening, Mr. Adom-Otchere said the recent expose by Mr. Azure on a 'scanda'l in the Lighthouse Church is one sided.

He averred that the publication dubbed “Darkness in a lighthouse: Pastors recount abuse and trauma” is a one-sided reportage of some pastors that is not fair to the church.

“I am telling you my brother Manasseh that if this is how you are going to start your [online] newspaper, it’s not going to go anywhere. If you are going to be attacking the men of God, and you want to start with facilitating a rebellion against the men of God; that Fourth Estate is going nowhere, I’m telling you,” Adom-Otchere said.

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“When I talk about journalism that is an intellectual exercise, journalism that is analysis, it is not my camera, I catch you, I catch you. People fight with me. People think I don’t like him. This is not how to do journalism,” he added.

Paul Adom-Otchere also added that Sulemana Brimah, the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is part of Manasseh's charade of bringing people down.

“Journalism is not trickery, is not a spy job, it is not I catch you; I catch you; it’s analysis, it operates in intellectual space. Journalism is like legal practice, it’s like medicine, it’s like engineering…now this disgraceful story that you have done as your first [major] publication…this is not journalism, Mr Brimah and your Manasseh, this is poverty journalism, reckless journalism, trickery journalism and crass journalism."

Paul Adom-Otchere stated that his colleague Manasseh Azure Awuni always wants to thrive on gossip but if he wanted to do serious journalism, then his first publication should have been the analysis of the 2021 budget statement of the government because it had been read days before the first publication of The Fourth State.

He went on, “…Manasseh Azure Awuni this your first story that a pastor says Dag Heward-Mills has abused him, the matter is in court but it is your first story. If you don’t go and apologize, Dag Heward-Mills will take a writ of defamation against you; he’s going to sue you five hundred million cedis, and you know what happens in defamation…if you are lucky, the judge will say five hundred million is too much, I’ll give you four hundred and fifty million, you [Manasseh] and your [Sulemana] Brimah, you will be sued two hundred million and The Fourth Estate will be dead."

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Watch Adom-Otchere's editorial below

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