Professor Emmanuel Asante, Chairman of the National Peace Council
About 20 journalists from selected media houses in the Greater Accra Region have benefitted from a workshop that seeks to empower journalists with the needed tools and skills to promote peace and avert conflict in the upcoming elections.
The two-day workshop which consisted of modules on avoidance of intemperate language, peace reporting and facts checking was part of series of engagement organized by the National Peace Council (NPC) to build capacity of media practitioners towards the conduct of peaceful elections.
So far, some editors, media owners and reporters within the Volta, Ashanti, Greater Accra, Western and Northern regions have benefited from the initiative which is being funded by the Danish government through its Embassy in Ghana.
Speaking at the opening session of the workshop held in Accra, under the theme, “Covering conflict and how to avoid intemperate language.” the acting Executive Secretary of NPC, George Amoh emphasised the importance of pre-election engagements in previous elections by saying that it “has been one of the secrets for peaceful elections in this country.”
He indicated that the unprecedented nature of the upcoming general election in 2020, where a former president would be contesting a sitting president was likely to present new dynamics to the context of elections.
“It is therefore very imperative that we prepare ourselves adequately so that we do not find this country in any kind of violence” he said.
Mr Amoh also tasked journalists to report in manners that would sustain the peace of the country, by saying that “it would be disastrous for me and you to leave this country worst than it were after 2020.”
The Chairman of the Greater Accra Peace Council, Rev. Samuel Osabutey, for his part, said that journalism, beyond dissemination of information, should be seen as a profession that counter hate speech and also create an environment of balanced opinions.
A facilitator of the workshop, Emmanuel Dogbevi, who is the executive director of Newsbridge Africa, a media training firm said the journalists should not stoop low to become rumour peddlers or allow their platforms to be used to make allegations against others.
“Journalists should not be peddling rumours or making allegations. You should be publishing facts. That is what separates you from the public,” he said.
By Issah Mohammed