The National Peace Council has urged media practitioners to work towards sustaining the peace of the nation during the events of the 2020 General Election and thereafter to advance the nation’s democracy and development.
Speaking at a two-day capacity-building workshop for selected journalists in the Ashanti Region on Conflict Reporting, the Acting Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, George Amoh said it was important to maximise the media’s huge influence in the shaping of public opinion and articulation, to sanitise political discourse and promote responsible behaviour for the common good.
The two-day event, which took place in Obuasi in the Ashanti region put together by the National Peace Council with funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), sought to build the capacity of participants to promote responsible conflict reporting and peace building ahead of the 2020 Elections.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, urged the media to be circumspect in or reportage to ensure absolute peace in the country and uphold the good journalistic practices.
The Ashanti Regional Executive Secretary of the Peace Council, Reverend Emmanuel Badu Amoah emphasized the need for the media to be professional and responsible in performing our primary role in information coverage and dissemination, surveillance, agenda setting for national discussions among others.
A Facilitator who double as Managing Editor for Ghana Business News and Executive Director for NewsBridge Africa, Emmanuel Dogbevi and a renowned retired Ghanaian Times Journalist, Francis Kokutse said it is unethical for journalists to report rumours without crosschecking their facts to maintain their own credibility and that of the media organisation they worked for.
The said journalists should guard against satisfying the wishes of media owners – concerned only with promoting their political ideologies, destroying their opponents and making money at the expense of national integration peace and development.
Practitioners must also not allow manipulation and the pressure from a superior to omit or add an item to the truth in a story to fit an agenda.
Ghanaians will go to the polls in December 2020 to elect their president and parliamentarians for the next four years.
This will be the eight conservative election following the return to multi-party democratic constitutional rule in Ghana
Story filed by Razak Baba
