The Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation GBC, Prof Amin Alhassan has entreated media practitioners to be inclusive in their reportage and not discriminate against minority groups.
He made this call while speaking at a High-Profile Round Table on Inclusive Journalism in Accra on Wednesday, April 5, 2023.
The dialogue was organized by Ghana-based Media Platform on Environment and Climate (MPEC) in partnership with the Uganda-based Minority Rights Group Africa (MRGA) with funding from the European Union (EU), under the “Engaging Media and Minorities to Act for Peacebuilding” (EMMAP) Programme.
According to Prof Amin Alhassan, the state, Ghana whose duty it is to protect the human rights of minority groups such as the elderly, persons with disabilities, people accused of witchcraft among others, has failed in that regard, and the media has not been professional and fair in reporting on issues relating to them, adding that the time has come to change the narrative.
The round-table was preceded by a 5-day field visit by ten journalists from Ghana, Sierra Leone and Senegal to some selected Ghanaian communities that host minority groups including the Gambaga witches’ camp in the Northern East Region.
The project partners and more than 30 participants, including senior media professionals and editors, as well as minority activists were hosted at a one-day regional high-profile round-table discussion on inclusive journalism in Accra. Some of the key issues that were addressed include the hostility and violence against minorities, leading to conflict, which usually originates and/or is fuelled by unethical reporting and unprofessional media coverage.
By the close of the dialogue, it was unanimously agreed that journalists have more or less blacklisted minority groups in their reportage and most times create disaffection for them rather. Journalists who attended the programme pledged to sensitise their fellow journalists to get closer to minority groups, understand them and their issues and report on them dispassionately while being sensitive to their feelings and plights.
Source: Pulse.com.gh
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