President John Mahama has cautioned the media
to be fair, accurate and balanced in their
reportage, especially when such reports have the
potential of hurting the hard earned reputation
of others.
The President said this in an interview with the
press corps in Paris, where he is attending a
conference on peace and security organized
under the aegis of the Franco-African Summit.
Reacting to reports by the Multimedia
Broadcasting Group on issues relating to
Engineers and Planners and Merchant Bank, Mr.
Mahama said, "as the oldest and largest privately
owned network in Ghana, Multimedia has a
responsibility to strive for accuracy and fairness
in its work."
He added that the company has the potential to
be a model of media excellence on the Ghanaian
media landscape if it pushes for high
professional standards.
Asked about the half apology issued by the
company for its wrong reports about him,
President Mahama said it is time to put the
matter behind us.
He asked government communicators and the
Ministry of Information to also put the matter
behind them and accept the partial apology
from the media house. "We can't afford to get
too emotional.
"We have a challenging job and it is easy in
some circumstances to lose one's cool," the
President noted.
The president encouraged his communications
team to continue to engage positively the media
including the Multimedia Group to put across
information on government's programmes and
policies.
