GJA Election Guidelines to be ready next month

Accra, Oct. 17, GNA - Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Guidelines on Election Coverage would early November outdoor guidelines which would serve as an essential reminder for journalists and media houses during major elections, Mr Affail Monney, GJA vice president, said on Friday.

"The code will also help the media to be balanced, fair, accurate, reliable and timely in their reportage of political actives and treatment of issues and personalities," Mr Monney said at a news conference organized by Ghana Must Win (GMW), a non-governmental organization, in Accra on development through attitudinal change, discipline and tolerance.

Mr Monney said journalists had discretion in the selection of news but this discretion must be exercised reasonably and with decorum. He charged media practitioners to exercise greatest decorum and critically examine what they put in the news for public consumption, especially in the run-up to the December elections in order not to create tension. Mr Monney condemned politics of insults, intimidation and personality attacks that were gradually creeping into Election 2008 campaign. Mr Stephen Kofi Baidoo, Executive Director of GMW, said the nation could develop rapidly if citizens changed their attitudes towards basic issues like dropping of plastics indiscriminately and spitting, among others. "If Ghana must win then let us take practical steps such as ensuring that we clean our choked gutters and weed our environment," Mr Baidoo said. He stressed the need for the nation to unite and fight filth and its related diseases, which were killing thousands of people, especially children. 17 Oct. 08