Sunyani June 12, GNA - Ms. Sarah J. Watcher, an international Journalist and media trainer has advised Journalists to ensure that their facts and figures are credible to ensure that they win public trust.
Ms Watcher gave the advice when she facilitated a two-day training workshop jointly organised by the US Embassy in Ghana and the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) in Sunyani.
Attended by 28 participants from the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regions, the workshop provided the platform for the trainer to take participants through the most common mistakes Journalist committed in the coverage of elections and prepared them ahead of Ghana’s Election 2020.
It was under the theme “Election Reporting in an Age of Disinformation and Gender Bias - Preparing for 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Ghana”.
Ms. Watcher urged Journalists to always authenticate the sources of their stories since credible stories were the most-read and emphasised that all stories should go through clarifications before publication to ensure factual and honest reporting.
Some of the female participants at the forum noted that despite the fact females constituted more than half of Ghana’s population, the country’s Parliament and other political positions were still dominated by men.
They argued that women could also occupy top positions and equally perform creditably and thus appealed to government and the general public to encourage more women to enter into politics to attain human resource balance in the public and civil service.
According to the female Journalists, women had not been reluctant to take public offices but had been working hard in confidence so that they could be heard particularly in politics.
They however observed that a greater number of women decline to take especially political appointments and certain public offices because of the fear being subjected to unjustified verbal attacks, abuses and even sometimes threats of death .
The female Journalists were of the view such vituperations against them were calculated to discourage women from vying for political and seeking other public offices.
They therefore called for measures to be instituted to remedy the structural barriers and prejudices that discouraged women from entering into politics and rising to top positions.
Mr. Larry Paa Kwesi Mosses, the Regional Chairman of GJA urged participants to always be accurate in their reportage to maintain their integrity.
GNA
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