By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
The Bank of Ghana says one of the major factors that directly influence the national economy, especially the exchange rate, positively or negatively within the shortest span of time is media reportage.
Media practitioners must therefore exercise utmost professionalism by placing greater emphasis on accuracy in reporting issues bothering the economy in order not to dampen investor confidence and undermine growth.
The Director of Communications at the Bank of Ghana, Bernard Otabil, gave the advice in Kumasi at a capacity-building session for journalists.
The two-day training was organised by the Bank of Ghana to build the professional competence of selected journalists in Kumasi.
It was to enable them to better appreciate the mandate of the Central Bank, and were taken through topics including ‘Ethical Reporting’, ‘Monetary Practice in Ghana’, ‘Development in Foreign Exchange Market’, ‘Understanding Inflation Dynamics in Ghana’, ‘Interpreting MPC Data Pack’, and ‘Next-of-Kin Concept’.
The training was also to stimulate the participants’ interest in business and economic reporting.
Mr. Otabil emphasised that media reportage on the national economy directly influences various players to quickly react positively or negatively to the various indicators, especially foreign exchange, the stock market, and the price of commodities on the international market.
The media should therefore always be guided by a greater sense of professionalism and circumspection in what they report on the economy.
“We’re in an era where the information superhighway has gotten way ahead of most of us, so we’re putting speed ahead of the standards that we’re supposed to uphold,” he said.
Mr. Otabil reminded journalists, especially those who report on economy and finance, that “there are two critical services that the public should expect of the business pages or programmes of the media. First, to provide authentic facts about the economy and business. For example, what’s the rate of inflation? How much did company X make? What alternative investments are available, such as Treasury Bills and
And also, how do we organise ourselves properly as a family, as a unit or as economic agents?”
The Kumasi Manager of the Bank of Ghana, Alex Donkor, explained that the capacity-building programme was in line with the Central Bank’s value placement on the work of the media in information dissemination process that helps members of the public to make informed socio-economic choices.
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association, Kingsley Hope, commended management of the Bank of Ghana for investing in journalists to competently report on the economy.
He said the training offered a unique opportunity for the participants to deepen their understanding of the work of the central bank and improve professional business and economic reporting.
