Parliament has affirmed its commitment to ensuring that members of the Press Corp are well-positioned and capacitated to provide balanced and accurate reportage on proceedings of the legislature to deepen and sustain the growth of Ghana’s democracy.
Clerk to Parliament Mr. Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah who gave the assurance said the role of the media is particularly imperative in the current dispensation where Legislature is clothed with a rather unique composition.
“Now more than ever, the tenets of our democratic credentials are being tested, and how we navigate this period and its associated complexities will determine how far we travel on the path of democracy and development, as a nation,” he stated.
Mr. Nsiah stated these when he delivered the keynote address at a two-day workshop for the members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region.
He said in demonstrating commitment to strengthening its partnership with the media, Parliament recently completed and handed over to the Press Corps, a well-equipped office to facilitate the discharge of its duties.
According to him, Parliament recognises the importance of bringing its proceedings to the doorstep of the populace hence institutionalising citizen engagement through partnership with the media among others.
Mr. Nsiah charged members of the PPC to, therefore, live up to their responsibilities in line with professional and ethical journalistic standards in disseminating information from Parliament to the people.
“This requires you to perform your duties without any partisan consideration and ensure that information flowing from your reportage is accurate and factual.
“I remind you that the citizenry has a lot of trust and confidence in journalists, such that they virtually believe or take the information you circulate in the public domain as factual and truthful.
“This underscores why you must always endeavour to crosscheck your information before reporting on them because it is always difficult to reverse inaccurate or false reportage once it is fed to the public.
“Continue to improve your knowledge on how Parliaments function the world over in order for you to make informed comparisons in your analysis of issues that relate to the legislature, particularly now when citizen-journalists who are not bound by the ethics of your profession have emerged, and some who continue to spread inaccurate information with regards to the consequences,” he added.
The workshop was part of the strategy being implemented by Parliament to build the capacity of the Press Corps to help members acquire the requisite knowledge and skills for the effective and efficient discharge of their duties.
Director of Public Affairs, Madam Kate Addo, in her remarks, challenged members of the PPC to specialise as quickly and as properly as possible in other to be able to hold their own in the media space.
According to her, this has become important because of the advent of citizen journalists who, though not bound by the ethics of the profession, still feed certain markets and challenge the work of professional journalists.
She said the development of electronic media at such a fast pace has also added to the challenge on professional media people, hence the need to chart new territories.
Dean of the PPC, Simon Againab, in his welcome address, stated that members of the Corps are expected to practice responsible journalism even though they are not expected to be the mouthpiece of Parliament.
According to him, the Press Corps owe itself a duty to help shape a positive perception of Parliament among the general populace by shedding light on activities of the house.
“Since members of the public and Ghanaians, in general, depend on us to be educated and get informed on happenings in Parliament, we members of the PPC should be mindful of the ethics of our profession as journalists in the discharge of our duties from the Legislative chamber.
“Let me use this workshop to caution our colleagues that our relationship with Parliament as an institution and Members of Parliament should be nothing short of a professional one,” he stressed.
