The media has been urged to display a high level of professionalism during the forth-coming presidential and parliamentary elections. “The media need to maintain a high level of accuracy and impartiality. Media that are doing objective coverage, acts highly objective and is never partial.”
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Deputy News Editor of the Ghana News Agency, said this in Accra on Tuesday, during a day’s seminar on Capacity Building for Media Practitioners in Reporting on the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. The senior media practitioner noted that the media played a pivotal role in any democracy, adding that a democracy was impossible, without a responsible and duty-bound media.
“A prime concern of the media is the electorate’s right to full information and truth. The Electoral Management Body has a need to communicate with the electorate, and the media is the main tool,” he said.
Mr. Ameyibor who was the resource person for the occasion, said effective collaboration between the media and the Electoral Commission (EC), promoted credible information out-flow and in effect, a successful election and national progress.
“We must create an equal platform for every political party without any bias. We must also report on results of the electoral commission and never our own,” he added. Mr. Ameyibor observed that an election was only democratic, if there was complete public participation without any hindrance.
He said the media was to provide information that made people know their rights and responsibilities, because once people did what was expected of them because they were well informed, a smooth election process was the automatic result. “With 49 days to the election, we should desist from polluting the atmosphere and also not mislead the electorate,” he said, “let us as media, work closely with the EC and also ensure that we play our part in ensuring a successful election, and a united country.”
A collaboration between the EC and the European Union Election Project 2016, the two-day seminar is being participated by a cross section of journalists in the country, from both the electronic and print media.