New social media policy causes chaos at Daily Graphic

Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) has barred its staff from sharing their opinions on social media without first publishing it on the company’s platforms.

The new directive was indicated in a new Social Media Policy, being rolled out by the state-owned media organisation.

Director of News of the state-owned media house, Mrs. Mavis Kitcher communicated the directive to staff of the organisation.

This directive came at time when management of the company had been inundated with reports of alleged unsavory comments by some staff, especially journalists on Facebook.

However, the roll-out of the policy has caused a major stir among staff of the organisation and a number of media practitioners.

In an interview monitored by The Ghana Report, a staff of the organisation has described this new policy as a crude way of gagging freedom of expression.

He stressed “We just don’t understand this; it is bad, Graphic is a leading brand in Ghana and we are preventing our own from sharing their personal views on social media. It is distasteful and must be reversed by management”.

He argues at a period where there is tension over media freedom, such directives shouldn’t come up at all.

Social media policy is a plan or strategy, code of conduct or rules of engagement that guides the conduct of workers in an organisation.

Also, it is important to make it a living document so that it can be adapted to changes in recognition of how fluid the social media space is.

Although it will be difficult to provide universal guidelines on the use of social media due to peculiar requirements of different organisations, a good policy should have some of these characteristics.