Be mindful in your reportage on election 2016 - Pastor to media

Founder and General Overseer of the Champion Ways Chapel International, Bishop, Sam Owusu, has cautioned media personnel, especially news anchors on Akan speaking radio stations, to be circumspect and lessen the intensity of exaggerations in their reportage.

That, according to the man of God, would avoid turmoil and misunderstanding amongst political parties and the people of Ghana.

Bishop Sam Owusu advised journalists to be vessels of peace and not a tool for war, and urged them to report only the truth without biases and conjectures.

“As we pray for the Electoral Commission (EC) to deliver credible polls, politicians and discerning Ghanaians to keep calm, Journalists can never be left out, especially being the mouthpiece of the people, they must be mindful of how they package their contents, because one single word put out there, can cause an uproar and rift amongst Ghanaians,” he stated.

The man of God stressed, “the people rely on you, as the rightful source of information and so, if your presentations are not accurate, if it’s not credible and presented in an exaggerated manner, it rather tends to mislead the people to an unnecessary anxiety which is very bad on your professions as Journalist”.

“I remember making a statement sometime ago during sermons, about men who go for prostitutes and indulge in prostitution and when I listened to the same statement on the radio, the way the newscaster twisted the story, was over- inflated and misleading, which I even regretted ever making such pronouncement, “he recounted.

According to him, there is the need for responsible reportage on the part of media personnel to make this year’s elections one of the best in our political history.

“Our responsibility as Ghanaians is to make Ghana go through successful elections, so I call on every individual who advocates for peace and has the nation at heart, starting from the EC, political leaders, party faithful, discerning Ghanaians and most importantly, Journalists to avoid going into the elections with bias and deceptive minds to distract the peaceful outcome of this elections we lookout for,” he urged.