Veteran broadcaster Paul Adom-Otchere has thrown a provocative question into Ghana’s media discourse: can a political journalist ever truly be neutral — and should the public even expect them to be?
The debate over media objectivity is not new. But when a broadcaster of Paul Adom-Otchere’s standing steps into the conversation with a direct challenge to one of journalism’s most sacred principles, people listen — and react.
Speaking during a recent appearance on GHOne TV, the outspoken host and political commentator made a claim that has since lit up social media and restarted one of Ghana’s most enduring conversations about press credibility: that complete neutrality in political journalism is not only rare, but arguably impossible.
Adom-Otchere did not couch his argument in academic theory. Instead, he reached for a comparison that most Ghanaians could immediately relate to — football.
He pointed out that some of the most respected sports journalists in the world are open supporters of clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Real Madrid. Their allegiances are known. Their biases, in a sense, are declared.
Yet they continue to be regarded as credible, professional voices in their field. Nobody, he argued, strips them of legitimacy simply because they have a favourite club.
Political journalism, in his view, works the same way. Reporters are human beings. They carry personal beliefs, ideological inclinations and political sympathies shaped by their upbringing, experiences and values. Pretending otherwise, Adom-Otchere suggested, is a performance — not a principle.
The core of his argument was not a defence of bias, but a reframing of what journalistic integrity actually demands. He drew a sharp distinction between neutrality — which he appeared to regard as an idealistic and often dishonest standard — and fairness, which he positioned as the more honest and attainable goal.
What audiences should rightfully demand from journalists, he argued, is not the elimination of personal opinion, but the accurate presentation of facts, honest disclosure, and the discipline to separate personal conviction from deliberate distortion or misinformation. A journalist can lean left or right and still tell the truth. What crosses the line, in his framing, is when personal loyalty becomes a tool for misleading the public.
The reactions that followed Adom-Otchere’s comments were swift and predictable in their division. On social media, a significant number of commentators agreed with his core thesis — that absolute neutrality is a myth journalists themselves rarely believe in, even when they publicly profess it. Others pushed back firmly, insisting that the professional standard of balance is non-negotiable and that acknowledging bias does not excuse it.
But beneath the back-and-forth lies a deeper and more uncomfortable conversation that Ghana’s media landscape has long needed to have — particularly at a time when political polarisation is high and public trust in the press is fragile.
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Ghana’s media has frequently been criticised for operating along partisan lines, with certain broadcasters and outlets perceived as mouthpieces for the NDC or NPP. Adom-Otchere’s comments, intentionally or not, land in the middle of that tension. By normalising the existence of journalist bias while insisting on fairness and factual integrity as the true standard, he offers a framework that some will find liberating and others will find dangerous.
The timing of this debate is not incidental. Ghana is in a period of active national discourse — on governance, economic management, and the role of institutions — and the media sits at the centre of how those conversations are shaped and consumed.
If audiences cannot trust that what they are reading or watching reflects honest reporting rather than political engineering, the entire foundation of informed public debate weakens. Adom-Otchere’s argument, at its best, is a call for transparency — for journalists to be honest about who they are rather than hiding behind a neutrality they do not practice.
Whether Ghana’s media industry is ready to have that conversation openly is another matter entirely.