Need To Create Public Education On False Rumours

BY BRIGHT SELASIE YAO AVORNYO (STUDENT)

GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM

RUMOUR according to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the seventh edition, is "any piece of information, or a story, that people talk about, but that may not be true".

Ghanaians all over the ten regions, two days ago, were rumoured, that there was going to be an earth quake. This rumour has however led millions of thousands of Ghanaians into trembling terror as they darted about and could not know where to place their hearts.

At about 2:00 am on Monday, people’s sleeping places turned vacant as they prone themselves onto their various streets. Not only did they come out alone but were pitiably accompanied by their little ones that were from a day old babies and above. These poor babies who should have been clothed in their comfortable rooms were exposed. This exposition could have dramatic effect on them .It was one of the days in the lives of many Ghanaians, that will never be forgetting

However, majority of Ghanaians have demonstrated the spirit of oneness, one people with a common destiny. Some went around knocking at peoples’ doors with the shout ‘’ wake up! Wake up! We are in danger, earth quake is coming’’. Some also toed the line of voluntary phone calls and text messages. It is however, unfortunate that whiles some were doing goodness to humanity, others do not care. The few that heard the message of calamity wickedly refused to turn on their neighbors, even people next to their doors with a reason known to them. This kind of unfortunate behaviors should never again be seen in us anymore. Tracing the generation of human beings, it can be seen that we all came from one man and a woman, therefore we are one people. It does not matter the colour, the tribe, the religion or what have you, and we are all human beings created by one Jehovah God..

Since one man’s meat is another man’s poison, thieves and evil doers have taken advantage of the incident to embark on their evil acts. When we live in this kind of world, how can we progress in order to meet our destiny? When those armed robbers are caught and the stubborn ones are killed then we hear of the wail from our human right activists.

In addition to this, a very big thanks to our security personnel, who have embarked on patrols to check on these evil doings and also protected the lives of Ghanaians. Also, the very reverend ministers are not left out. Ghanaians are therefore saying ayeeko to you all.

This is therefore, to tell Ghanaians that, there is a big difference between soft and hard news. Soft news is that news that is predictable or something that will not call for harm or something with joy. On the other hand, hard news is that, that is not predictable. It mostly occurs naturally. One can therefore not know when and where exactly they shall happen. One big characteristic of hard news is that it brings sadness or something harmful. Examples are earthquakes, volcanoes, accidents and so on. Therefore if there is going to be an earthquake, one cannot know where and when it shall occur.

It is therefore, a duty bound of the Ministry of Information to educate the general public on any issue at all relating to this kind of earthquake rumour or whatever. For the adage illustrates that ‘they say, they say destroys the home’.