Dr Bonnah Koomson, Senior Lecturer, School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Legon on Tuesday said it was not the duty of journalists to determine people who should govern but rather the electorate.
"Journalists as part of their job description do not determine who should rule Ghana rather it is the electorate through an election."
Dr Koomson told journalists that their mandate was to protect and project people who contested in an election, highlight on their competence for the electorate to make informed choices.
He was speaking at Editors/Sub Editors' Roundtable on Election Coverage in Accra.
It seeks to through more light on the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) revised guidelines for election coverage.
The roundtable afforded editors an opportunity to bring out challenges confronting them during and after elections.
Throwing more light on the GJA guidelines, Dr Koomson said the guidelines was to act as a source of reference, pointing out that "this is a document that should be debated. It has been debated and adopted"
He said the guidelines called on the attention of journalists on violence and conflicts in elections and tasked them to be circumspect in their reportage and respect divergent views.
Dr Koomson stressed the need for journalists to be well informed on issues so they could educate the public to make informed choices.
"You need balanced reportage on election issues to that we can give better analysis of them whenever we provide information to the public," he added.
He said on election, matters should be "issued based", adding "It should not be based on personality, that is not what matters to the country."
"Great minds do not discuss people but discuss ideas."
Dr Koomson cautioned journalists against bribery, corruption and avoid multiple declaration of results.
"If for any reason results have been declared but not certified by the Electoral Commission (EC) they should be termed as provisional," he told journalists.
He appealed to journalists to be Information and Communication Technology literate so that they could access information on the internet when results were declared by the EC.
Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, Interim Chairperson Editors Forum, Ghana said the media needed to be more professional so that their report did not generate conflicts.
Mr Darren Schemmer, Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, noted that the success or failure of an election depended on the media.
He commended Ghana for a peaceful transition over the years, saying after the Kenyan electoral violence case, the whole world was watching Ghana.
Mr Affail Monney, GJA Vice President, said the media had a crucial role to determine the destiny of Ghana.
He therefore urged editors to ensure that what was published did not mar Ghana's democracy.