Dr. Bonnah Koomson, Senior Lecturer, School of communication Studies, University of Ghana on Tuesday said it was not the duty of journalists to determine people who should rule the country but rather the electorate.
"Journalists as part of their job description don't 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 have put up in an election, highlight on their competence so that the electorate make informed choices.
He was speaking at Editors/Sub Editors' roundtable on election coverage in Accra which seeks to throw more light on the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) revised guidelines election coverage.
The roundtable afforded editors to bring out challenges confronting them during and after elections.
Throwing more light on the GJA guidelines, Dr Koomson said the guideless 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."
According to him, the guidelines call the attention of journalists to violence and conflicts in elections and tasked them to be circumspect in their reportage and respect divergent views.
He stressed on 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 so that, we can give better analysis of them whenever we provide information to the public," he added.
Dr Koomson said elections matters should be "issued based", adding, "they should not be based on personality; that is not what matters to the country."
"Great minds don't discuss people but discuss ideas."
He 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 further appealed to journalists to be Information Communication Technology literate so that they can assess 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, noted the success or failure of an election depended on the media.
He commended Ghana for a peaceful transition over the years, saying after Kenya electoral violence case, the whole world was watching Ghana.
Mr Affail Monney, GJA Vice President, said the media has a crucial role to determine the destiny of Ghana.
He therefore urged editors to ensure that what is published did not mar Ghana's democracy.