Journalists have been urged to be circumspect in reporting the present brawl between the youth of Dagbon and Konkombas in the Northern Region. There is fear and panic among residents in the area as a result of the recent social media onslaught which is fast degenerating into real chaos.
At a day’s conflict-sensitive reporting capacity building training last Saturday, July 15, 2023, organized by the National Peace Council in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) for Journalists and Radio Station Managers in Tamale, Chairman of the Northern Region branch of the GJA, Mr. Yakubu Abdul Majeed in his remarks said, “Indeed, this training is timely as it is meant to remind us of our duties and responsibilities as journalists and presenters.”
“I wish to use this occasion to entreat all to help sanitize the airwaves by strengthening our gate keeping role. We should never allow anyone to use our medium to foment trouble in the region” he said.
He added the media’s primary focus is to help build or accelerate development of the communities, “therefore we ought to channel our professionalism and expertise to promoting the cause of developing the region.”
Former Northern Regional Director of National Council for Civic Education (NCCE), Alhaji Abdul Razak Saani said the work of the media means so much to the Ghanaian democracy.
“We’re here because we have had course to think about the fact the work that you’re doing especially in northern Ghana and Dagbon is wabbling and so as a Peace Council, it is for us to call you to formally appreciate the need for peace and tranquility in Dagbon, in Northern Region and in Ghana as a whole” he stated.
He emphasized that, “If we recognized the fact that the media has a role to play in our development, then we have to also be conscious of the fact that whatever we say that will negatively impact on the development of peace in northern Ghana and Ghana must be a thing that we have to think about”.
Mr. Abdul Razak added development is all that we desire and in desiring for development, there are quite a lot of issues that we have to take on board.
“For me, chieftaincy, land, religion, all of these things have been with us since time but I don’t think that they have any significant roles they can play in the provision of health facilities, the provision of education, putting food on the table. In my mind, there are other issues that are so critical for our national development than for us to think about land, chieftaincy, religion, other issues that in my view do not promote national development” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Professor Amin Alhassan also urged the practitioners to go beyond ethnic, religious and political sentiments in their line duties and should therefore be guided by the ethics of the profession.
He maintained that the media have a duty to promote peaceful coexistence among the people and national security for socioeconomic activities to thrive. He further entreated the media not allow their platforms to be used to propagate hate speech and ethnic conflict.
