[ 2016-11-16 ]

Be mindful in your reportage on election 2016 - Pastor to media
Founder and General Overseer of the Champion Ways
Chapel International, Bishop, Sam Owusu, has
cautioned media personnel, especially news anchors
on Akan speaking radio stations, to be circumspect
and lessen the intensity of exaggerations in their
reportage.

That, according to the man of God, would avoid
turmoil and misunderstanding amongst political
parties and the people of Ghana.

Bishop Sam Owusu advised journalists to be vessels
of peace and not a tool for war, and urged them to
report only the truth without biases and
conjectures.

“As we pray for the Electoral Commission (EC) to
deliver credible polls, politicians and discerning
Ghanaians to keep calm, Journalists can never be
left out, especially being the mouthpiece of the
people, they must be mindful of how they package
their contents, because one single word put out
there, can cause an uproar and rift amongst
Ghanaians,” he stated.

The man of God stressed, “the people rely on
you, as the rightful source of information and so,
if your presentations are not accurate, if it’s
not credible and presented in an exaggerated
manner, it rather tends to mislead the people to
an unnecessary anxiety which is very bad on your
professions as Journalist”.

“I remember making a statement sometime ago
during sermons, about men who go for prostitutes
and indulge in prostitution and when I listened to
the same statement on the radio, the way the
newscaster twisted the story, was over- inflated
and misleading, which I even regretted ever making
such pronouncement, “he recounted.

According to him, there is the need for
responsible reportage on the part of media
personnel to make this year’s elections one of
the best in our political history.

“Our responsibility as Ghanaians is to make
Ghana go through successful elections, so I call
on every individual who advocates for peace and
has the nation at heart, starting from the EC,
political leaders, party faithful, discerning
Ghanaians and most importantly, Journalists to
avoid going into the elections with bias and
deceptive minds to distract the peaceful outcome
of this elections we lookout for,” he urged.

Source - Today Ghana

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