Ghana Day 6

Pre-post note:

Sunday night was awful. The power went out around 9:30 until maybe 11, so the super powered fan that allows me to sleep without bathing in my own sweat was dead in my prime laying in bed hours : (

Real post:

So Monday was a very eventful (and above all sweaty) day for me. I started work at the Daily Guide. Prince showed me how to figure out which tro-tro was going the direction I wanted (it involves hand signs and something close to an auctioneer’s call by the driver’s assistant). Tomorrow I get help again, and Wednesday I might try it on my own. The hardest part is really recognizing where I need to get off before I’ve passed it, particularly on the way home since it’s dark. Traffic is pretty terrible both ways, so apparently I’m going to be going to work around 7am and leaving for home around 7pm so that I can avoid being stuck for two hours in the congestion (normally it should be a 20 minute trip).

The Guide has a lovely office – air conditioned with internet – and the people seem mostly nice. Some of the reporters were very chatty and welcoming, although some seemed were less so because they working or else sort of blasé about the temporary freelance writer in their midst. Apparently I’m not an uncommon occurrence; there’s a Swiss Katherine in the newsroom as well who seems maybe about my age.

So today I read the newspaper to get an idea for the “house style” that I should be trying to emulate, which to be honest might be a bit hard since it’s more biased and sensational (in verb and adjective choice if in nothing else) than I’m used to writing in or reading news in. I’m sure US papers have house styles as well, but not quite in this way I think. I’ve also discovered that for all I’ve been told that the paper is not biased, it is highly critical of the current government’s efforts to attack the former ruling party’s officials and also uses some rather dismissive language about the new party’s various efforts to do things. I suppose it’s possible they’re just calling it like it is, but there certainly were no articles disparaging the other party. I think I might try to find some articles from when the NPP (other party) administration to see if they’re just critical of the party in power.

So I was sent out on assignment this afternoon with Stella, one of the reporters in the staffroom who was a newcomer to the city (although she’s been working 6 years for the paper in the Ghanaian second city of Kumasi). I think she got me since she was new, I felt a bit bad for her. Also, we had very little idea where the press conference we were attending was being held, which resulted in a few mishaps on the journey. That, combined with a stop at the bank and general traffic, meant we did not get there until 45 minutes after the official start time of the conference. I honestly had not thought that would be a problem, but it turns out they had started nearly close to time (probably 30 minutes late), so we only caught the last part of the translations and the q&a session. We waited around for about an hour afterwards to get a copy of the speech though, so no real harm was done. The news editor had each of us write our own story, presumably as a tryout for me. I doubt that my version will be in the paper, but Stella put my name on her story as well, so that was nice. In any case, I’ve mostly figured out where things (like the bathroom) are now, so I’m set to start work whenever the editor decides how good I am and gives me an assignment. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind tailing real reporters for a while instead of writing my own stories, since my personal goal here is to make contacts with people and understand the challenges of reporting – which I’m sure are different for a native who speaks the language than for a white girl with only English. My major challenge is going to be finding the place I need to go and hoping that the people I need to interview speak English.

On that note, Stella tells me that the hardest part about being a reporter in Ghana is the long hours (when events occur in the evening) and balancing them with family. Doesn’t sound too terribly different from the challenges of lots of working women. She said that reporters are not afraid to put their bylines on stories as long as they are giving both sides of a story and have their facts checked. It is when you do not have an opposing viewpoint that you’re sharing or you are exposing a high level official or something similar that you normally put “The front desk” as the byline – no Woodward and Bernstein here. It sounds like the actual publication of a controversial story is ok though, and the papers can withstand government pressure as whole entities.

That’s about all. I had a lovely but very long trip home with Albert, who works as a sort of courier for Navog (although that’s not to say he’s not an important member of the group, since there aren’t more than 5 or 6 people in the NGO). He told me he didn’t think that things changed very fast in Ghana – in terms of attitudes, infrastructure, etc. I’m not sure I agree with him, if you take a look at the sort of change that occurs with every generation, but it’s an interesting opinion to consider and reflects the opinion it seems of most people here that la plus ça change etc. It certainly supports Afropessimism. He’s also challenged me to a card game, although he said he won’t tell me which game until the time we play so that he can catch me off guard. Also, apparently there’s all night reggae music every Wednesday on the beach (8pm to dawn) that might be interesting to check out at some point. Apparently it’s a big tourist attraction though, with more white people than black people – definitely not a really ethnically Ghanaian event, just something fun that happens.

Alright, time for bed since I’m up so early.