JOURNALISTS BRAINSTROM ON MELLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SPREAD)

A two-day encounter to brainstorm on how the media could complement the government’s efforts at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 ended at Akosombo at the weekend.
The two-day event, attended by 37 senior journalists, was on the theme: “The State and the Media as Development Partners in the attainment of the MDGs in Ghana”.
It brought together resource persons from civil society organisations and officials from the Information Services Department (ISD) and was organised by the ISD, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
At the opening ceremony last Thursday, a Deputy Minister of Information, Mr James Agyenim Boateng, underscored the need for effective collaboration between the government and the media to facilitate the total development of the country.
He said the media, as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, had been identified as a key player in the governance process of the country, hence the need to resource them to enable them to perform their duties efficiently and effectively.
“This can only be achieved through the acquisition of appropriate knowledge and skills and the provision of the necessary tools that will facilitate their role to create an informed, knowledgeable and united society in which every citizen will contribute to the country’s development,” he said.
Mr Boateng pointed out that his outfit was making every effort to further promote and consolidate media pluralism and national unity through media-related activities for good governance in the country.
In his presentation, the Executive Director of the West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP), Mr Emmanuel Bombande, called on the media to pay less attention to politics, which, he said, had over the years created unhealthy suspicion among the people and undermined their resolve to unite and contribute to the country’s development.
“If we the media do not work together with a common goal and help identify challenges and obstacles to national development, we will still lag behind and fail to complement efforts by the government to achieve the MDGs by 2015,” he stated.
For his part, the Dean of Journalism Studies of the African University College of Communications (AUCC), Dr Absalom Mutere, called for the empowerment of media practitioners to enable them to discharge their duties more professionally.
He also expressed concern over the infiltration of the profession by people with little or no training in journalism, a situation which, he said, had lowered the overall credibility of the profession in the country.
“The credibility of journalism emanates from how we tell the truth, which defines us as professional practitioners,” Dr Mutere stated.