Journalists Advised On Reconciliation Reportage

It is has been stressed that journalists covering proceedings of the National Reconciliation Commission should avoid ethnicity and partisanship in their reportage to help in the process of arriving at genuine reconciliation for the country .

Participants at the end of a workshop on the national reconciliation process have therefore, agreed on the need to detach political affiliations from the reports and cross-check facts for accurate reports that would not inflame passions . The workshop, which ended on Saturday attracted media personnel from both the electronic, print media, State and Private owned media houses. The meeting, organised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in concert with IBIS, a Denmark Funding Agency, showed a film on the South Africa Reconciliation Process.

It noted that covering the reconciliation process is a lofty exercise that would demand a very high sense of professionalism, commitment and

Dedication Participants were given a global perspective on national reconciliation commissions and the legal framework of Ghana's reconciliation .

Speaking on the ethical and professional challenges of the reconciliation reportage, a lecturer at the School of Communications, Legon, Dr. Audrey Gadzekpo noted that the media practitioners have been victims and perpetrators of human rights abuses in an unconstitutional regimes hence could not be aloof observers in the process Relation. She said the process is a highly anticipated media event which would set an agenda for both local and international assignment and urged

the national reconciliation press corps to rise above bar to help heal the wounds of the people. She said "This would forge a better and stronger relation that had a better and stronger bearings to realise the culture for the respect for human rights”. She called on reporters to be highly objective in their analysis as well as presentations in order not to raise unnecessary for expectations for the people.

Referring to "The Spirit of Akossombo, the blue print for the national reconciliation reporting, the Managing Director of Graphic Communications Group, Mr. Berfi Appenteng participants agreed to increase public knowledge on human rights issues. He said the national reconciliation process should be viewed as a deprecatory exercise rather than a retributive one.