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Journalists urged to promote
peace in conflict situations
Tamale, May 29, Ghanadot/GNA - Journalists have been urged
to help promote peace and stability in conflict situations
by keeping their eyes and ears to the ground and alerting
the authorities when signs of conflict begin to show.
They must also exercise care in their haste to beat
deadlines as far as conflicts stories are concerned.
Mr Alhassan Imoro, Media Director of the Rural Media Network
(RUMNET), an NGO in the Northern Region, made the call at a
media workshop on “conflict and election reporting" for
media practitioners in Tamale on Thursday.
Shay-Mah Media Consult, an NGO, organised the workshop under
the sponsorship of Action Aid-Ghana.
Mr Imoro said there had been instances where editors had
demanded to have conflict stories from their reporters when
the reporters had not had access to adequate and accurate
facts on the issue.
In such circumstances, he said, inexperienced journalists
were sometimes compelled to file stories that tended to fuel
further tension.
Mr Imoro said in conflict situations the feuding parties
were often eager and desperate to let the whole world hear
their side of the story in order to gain sympathy adding:
"In their eagerness, they try to present half truths and
inaccuracies to the media.
"If these are not verified from independent sources but
published or put on the air as they are, they tend to
aggravate the conflict with devastating consequences," he
said.
Mr Imoro called on the media to strive to make their medium
of communication an independent platform for the pursuit of
causes that would make the upcoming general election
peaceful, free and fair.
Mr Mahama Shaibu, a resource person and Executive Director
of the Shay-Mah Media Consult who spoke on the topic: "War
Propaganda and Ethnic Conflict Reporting", said more often
the media had been used as propaganda machinery to favour
people in authority as against their conscience.
He said the media practitioner was also sometimes in a
dilemma as to report facts, which could heighten tension, or
moderate his reportage to foster peace in a conflict
situation.
Mr Sanni Yakubu, Project Manager of Action Aid-Ghana said:
"In view of the fact that conflict hinders development, my
organisation is drawing up programmes to equip journalists
with the requisite tools to promote peace".
He urged journalists to maintain their neutrality at all
times in the coverage of political parties and during the
December polls.
GNA
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