EDITORIAL: The Castle Briefings

The President's Press Secretary, Mr. Kwabena Agyepong has initiated what we have all long been waiting for: Regular briefings from the seat of government. This is different from the ministerial Meet-the-Press sessions at the Ministry of Information.

The Castle briefings, from what we have been told, are meant to be at par with what obtains in the more advanced democracies of the world where highly informed and very professional media people take contemporary and other burning issues directly to the nation's chief executive.

Though there is a small coterie of reporters designated as the "Castle Press Corps", the briefings, we are told would be open to a wider representation. That we believe is in the right direction. The media houses that do not have representation on the Castle Press Corps, must take advantage of this new initiative and apply for accreditation for the briefings which take place twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays.

What this means is that the President's Press Secretary would have to curtail his hopping from one radio station to the other, shouting himself hoarse trying to explain this or that issue, event, or accusation. Twice a week, the Ghanaian media would have the chance of talking directly to him and putting all their queries to him. This opportunity must be seized upon so as to bring some order and professionalism to the way both the government and media have been purveying information.

We wish to take this opportunity to make a request: The Presidency must of necessity equip the Press Secretary's section with up-to-date information dissemination equipment and material, so that when necessary, stories and pictures can be filed directly from the Castle to the various media houses that so require. We are talking of modern computers with broadband connections, digital cameras, connections for audio feeds, etc.

Anything worth doing, we are told, is worth doing well!