Accra, Oct. 31, GNA - Mrs. Oboshie Sai-Cofie, Minister of Information and National Orientation on Wednesday urged Journalists to ensure that the stories they put out were accurate, factual and credible to effectively contribute to the agenda of changing attitudes for a better Ghana.
She said though speed and timeliness counted a lot in journalism, they must try to make a little more research to eliminate mistakes to make their stories credible before publishing adding, "it is up to us in the sector to start doing peer review and improve on accuracy and credibility". Mrs Sai-Cofie said this during a tour of some selected media houses in Accra with the Deputy Minister Mr. Frank Agyekum, and the Government spokesperson on Infrastructure Mrs. Catherine Afeku. The tour which is termed "media walk" took the team to Radio Universe, Choice FM, Ken City Media comprising Oman FM, Net 2 TV and National Agenda Newspaper and the Sky Broadcasting Company, operators of Sunny FM.
This forms part of the Ministry's agenda to get closer to key partners in the information dissemination process, examine their challenges and offer suggestions where necessary for smooth information on government policies for development.
Mrs Sai-Cofie said there were situations when information was misapplied citing a very recent front-page publication of a newspaper about the missing of guns and ammunitions from the Ghana Police Service which the IGP came out to refute.
She said in spite of these mistakes, the media landscape in Ghana had been very vibrant with impressive human resource and infrastructure growth and called on them to propagate information that would bring back the unique individuality peculiar to Ghana.
Sight must not be lost on promoting productivity, accountability, positive thinking, dedication, hospitality and pride that Ghana seemed to be loosing to bring a paradigm shift in the attitudes of Ghanaians, she added.
The Minister commended the media houses for their set-up, inspirational music as relief from the stresses of everyday life and their programmes, especially those in the Ghanaian languages to make the public better understand government policies.
Touching on lack of advertisement which was a major concern raised by the media houses, Mr. Frank Agyekum said the Ministry would hold a roundtable discussion with the heads of the industries to know their problems of advertising in the media and holistically find solutions to them.
He said the Ministry was not propaganda machinery but was working to make people understand government's side of the story. He urged the stations to endeavour to break into their programmes with policies on national orientation and that through constant communication the goals would be met.
Dr. Akosua Perby, Chairperson of Radio Universe Board and Mrs Stella Agyepong, Vice President of Ken City Media pledged their support towards enhancing attitudinal change through bridging of the language barrier.
