Mr Egbert Isaac Faibille Jnr, Solicitor of Mr Alfred Ogbamey, Managing Editor of the Gye Nyame Concord has dragged The Daily Graphic to the National Media Commission over a publication in the State owned daily, alleging that Mr Ogbamey has blackmailed the Director of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Mr Ben Owusu Mensah.
“It is my client’s contention that the Daily Graphic should have obtained his side of the story before publication; unless the publication was a paid-for advertisement”, Mr Faibille contended.
According to him, Mr Ogbamey believes that even if the publication was a paid-for advertisement, the Daily Graphic should have been guided by the law of defamation to have exercised proper judgment in the publication of the said press statement in the manner it did.
The Daily Graphic per a publication on Page 6 of its Thursday, December 7, 2006 issue, said to be the contents of a statement read by the Director General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) at a press conference, maligned and libelled Gye Nyame Concord’s Managing Editor in a most unprofessional manner.
Mr Faibille further contended that the words contained in paragraphs 12 & 13 of the said publication and attributed to the Director General of the GPHA are false and libellous of his client; and which the Daily Graphic should and ought to have known and taken appropriate steps to prevent publication or alternatively spoken to Mr Ogbamey for his side; especially against the backdrop of media debates between him (Ogbamey) and GPHA.
In respect of the above, Mr Faibille, with instructions from his client, is seeking the National Media Commission to compel Daily Graphic to apologize to Mr Ogbamey with same prominence at a frequency that the NMC deems fit
Again, Mr Ogbamey’s Solicitor wants a retraction of the malicious and libellous parts of the publication and any other reliefs that the NMC may deem fit.
Source: GhanaWeb
