Mr. Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, has appealed to media personnel in the Region to desist from reporting on issues that would adversely affect the resolution of the Bawku conflict.
"Let us be circumspect in our reportage and to go extra mile to orientate the people in Bawku on the need for peaceful co-existence instead
of inflaming passions."
The Minister who made the appeal during a soirée organized for the media in the Region over the weekend lamented that instead of the Media
playing its social responsibility role to complement Government and other stakeholders' efforts in finding and maintaining peace in Bawku, some of them were rather reporting irresponsibly with careless abandon.
He urged the journalists to read wide and study the country's constitution and the code of ethics of the Ghana Journalists Association
(GJA) so that they could discharge their duties effectively.
"A Journalist who understands aspects of the country's constitution relevant to journalism practice is likely to practice in a decent and
professional manner and will most of time escape social and legal traps".
Mr. Woyongo explained that the expunging of the criminal libel law from the status books was meant to enhance the performance of Journalists and not to degenerate the professional standards that have been achieved with the sweat of the founding members of the profession and urged the National Media Commission and the top brass of the GJA not to hesitate to bring defaulting
members to book.
The Minister, however, commended the Media in the Region for their hard work and said it had helped to project the Region in several ways.
He mentioned in particular coverage given to the President, Professor Evans Atta Mills and Vice President John Dramani Mahama as well as other international assignments and said it showed how dear development of the region was to media personnel working in the region.
The Minister said the Region would be celebrating its 50th anniversary in September this year and urged the Media to advertise the region through their reportage to enable stakeholders including the Government, bilateral
and multilateral donor investors, the region's citizens within and without to contribute to the celebration Mr. Eric Kwadjo Amoh, Upper East Region Chairman of the GJA, cautioned Journalists that the GJA would not hesitate to deal with any journalist including broadcasters who violated the ethics of the Association.
He appealed to Journalists to move to the rural areas in the Region to do more rural reporting, saying there were more issues out there which needed to be reported on.