Northern Journalists Tasked To Report On Area’s Economic Potential

The Information Minister, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has tasked journalists in the Northern Region to promote the area by reporting on issues that highlight the economic potential of the region.
According to him, even though the region was endowed with a lot of potential, the media had not given it much attention.

The minister, who was speaking at a meeting with journalists in Tamale in the Northern Region last Saturday as part of his familiarisation tour of the five regions of the north, said: "I will like to crave your indulgence that in addition to holding public officials accountable and drawing our attention to the difficulties around us as a society, we in the media have another responsibility which is to promote our country, and for you, I will say to promote your region".

Mr Nkrumah added that economic opportunities abound in the region, which when tapped into, could quicken the growth of the area.

He further said if journalists reported more on the region’s potential, it could attract investors and businesses to the area to create jobs for the people, particularly the youth.

"If you look at the number of stories you publish in a day, and you ask yourselves how many of them will promote our region, I am sure you will come to the conclusion that we can do far better for the Northern Region. It is the opportunities that avail in the area that will attract other investors to the region," the minister further said.

Free media

On media freedom, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said much effort had been put into ensuring that the media, and for that matter journalists, operated freely without any external interferences.

He said there was no culture of silence in the country where hundreds of radio stations, television stations and social media accounts were operating freely.

"The reality is that there are some persons who are not comfortable when what they say is responded to. They are of the view that they should have the right to criticise and to question. But there are some of them who cannot take it when someone else questions what they say. How can you say that when someone disagrees with what you say then it means the person is trying to silence you?" the minister asked.

Concerns

Some of the journalists raised concerns about the lack of information flow in some public offices in the region and said such attitude sometimes pushed journalists to write unbalanced stories.

They, therefore, suggested that public offices be provided with Public Relations officers to take charge of information flow between their establishments and the media.