Journalists urged to be accurate with reportage on mining sector

Journalists have been urged to carry out thorough investigations and be circumspect in their reportage on the mining sector.

This is because mining is of crucial essence to the socio-economic well-being of the country, which in effect means that matters relating to the sector should not be misrepresented, but should be accurate.

Mr. David Johnson, Vice President and Head of Stakeholder Relations, Gold Fields-West Africa, said this at a day’s seminar on public relations in the mining sector, on Wednesday in Accra.

Themed, “Public Relations in the Mining Sector: Exploring Industry Expectations of the Modern Public Relations Practitioner,” the event was a collaboration between the Department of Public Relations of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), and the Ghana Chamber of Mines.

It sought to educate public relations students at UPSA on some core factors within the mining sector.

Mr. Johnson described as unfortunate, situations where some journalists sometimes prejudged certain cases and wrote stories that showed strong bias against some mining companies.

He said the highly sensitive nature of the sector within the national scope, makes it imperative to handle matters within the sector with caution.

Mr. Ahmed Dasana Nantogmah, Director, External Relations and Communications, Ghana Chamber of Mines, who spoke on public relations within the mining sector, advised the students to always tell the truth as public relations practitioners.

He said contrary to the generally held notion that public relations was about “massaging the truth”, in order to keep a good image, a public relations practitioner always had to speak the truth because telling lies could rather worsen already bad situations.

Mr. Nantogmah said what mattered most was to have the right know-how and communication strategy, to be effective.

The program formed part of activities to mark the Faculty Week celebration of the Public Relations Management Students Association of UPSA.