Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Affail Monney has called on media practitioners not to allow bribes to compromise their integrity during and after the December polls.
According to him, journalists must bear the fruit of neutrality by acting professionally.
Mr. Monney made the appeal at an election seminar organized by the Tema Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association for its members, under the theme, ?Towards peaceful elections; the role of the media? at the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) Conference Hall.
He entreated media practitioners to focus on conflict prevention during the general elections.
?Balance your reportage since every story has two sides. One sided story is a bogus story without credibility,? Mr. Monney explained.
The GJA Vice President noted that in order to prevent chaos and conflict during the electioneering period, journalists must desist from declaring unconfirmed results.
He urged journalists not to allow their political affiliations to negatively affect their reportage and provide equal platforms to all political parties contesting the elections.
Tema Metropolitan Election Commission Director, Gabriel Manu called on accredited journalists to announce their presence to presiding officers at the various polling stations to avoid altercation and misunderstanding.
He disclosed that his outfit had recruited a total of 2,340 electoral officers to supervise the elections at all 468 polling stations in Tema.
According to him, out of the total number of officers recruited Tema West Constituency would have 765, Tema East; 610 with Kpone-Katamanso and new created Tema Central receiving 560 and 405 respectively.
The Tema EC Director noted that in a bid to make the electioneering process simple, smooth and fast, the voter register had been arranged alphabetically for easy identification.
For his part, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Olivia Turkson, Tema Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), who delivered a speech on behalf of the Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Maxwell Atingane implored the media to quickly inform the police about challenges at polling stations.
The Regional Commander called on the media to crosscheck their facts before making them public, saying they should not rush to declare winners but allow the EC to do so.
Earlier, Godfred Blay Gibbah, Tema Chapter GJA President, in his presentation, explained that the seminar was aimed at sharpening the skills of members to promote fairness, accuracy and objectivity.
Source Daily Guide Ghana
