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Ms. Daphne Lariba Nabila, the Executive Director of the Legal Resource Center (LRC), has encouraged journalists and other media practitioners to be abreast of the Electoral Laws towards playing their role as educators more effectively.

She said it was only when media professionals became well-grounded in the electoral matters that they could push other stakeholders in the electoral process to apply the laws diligently or hold them accountable for their lapses.

Ms. Nabila said this while addressing journalists and other media practitioners at workshop, organised by the LRC at Abessim, near Sunyani.

The workshop, which was on the theme: “Elections 2016: Promoting Responsible and Peaceful Electoral Leadership”, was sponsored by the British High Commission.

Ms. Nabila appealed to media professionals to help educate the public to know where to get appropriate legal redress on matters related to elections to discourage them from resorting to inappropriate measures.

Mr. Francis Ameyibor, the General Coordinator of Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA), advised journalists to endeavour to be fair, accurate, and objective in their reportage on elections to avoid inflaming passions and inciting people to become violent.

He criticised the manner in which some journalists solely focused on negative issues to the detriment of those issues, which would enhance peace and development, especially in an election year.

Mr. Ameyibor also advised media houses not to recruit student journalists to cover elections, saying, such persons had little or no experience to handle controversial issues.

He urged media professionals not to allow their personal preferences and opinions to influence their reports on elections as they had the propensity to foment trouble.

He encouraged journalists to focus on issues involving women, children, traditional authorities and the constituents in general, and not just the political parties or the candidates.

Alhaji Suallah Abdallah Quandah, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, who spoke on the “Role of the Media in Conflict Management and Peace Building”, acknowledged the power of the media in transforming or destroying the society.

“The media can be used to promote peace and the development of society but the same media can be used to destroy society and that must be the concern of journalists and media practitioners,” he stated.

Alhaji Quandah appealed to media houses to endeavour to engage professionals for radio or television discussions to foster objective discussion of issues but not to give the platform to those who discussed every issue from a partisan and biased perspective.