Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, has admonished media practitioners, politicians and social commentators not to discredit the work of technical experts, who are working selflessly to save Ghanaians from the disruption of COVID-19.
He said casting a slur on the reputation of these individuals and their institutions was harmful to their reputation and the national image.
He was briefing the media on COVID-19, on Wednesday, during which some of the experts involved in the testing and case management of the disease took turns to clarify some controversies over the national testing capacity and projection figures for pre-peak scenarios.
The Information Minister stated: “It is fair to raise questions about the data and science of their work on COVID-19, which is even a practice by the academicians themselves in peer reviews.
“What is not fair is to impute ill motive or intellectual dishonesty to the work of these experts who are breaking their backs to do this work in our common interest.”
He said these experts, including professors; virologists, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians, clinicians, among others, deserved encouragement and support instead of condemnation.
The experts, he added, were willing and available to provide explanations of the science and date they were churning out to enable journalists to educate the public appropriately.
The Minister urged journalists to always seek the right experts to offer their perspectives on issues in their fields; rather than engaging politicians, social commentators and critics who were not well versed in the technical issues at hand.
He said many of the opinions expressed in the media about the COVID-19 were inaccurate because of the lack of the requisite understanding of those who expressed them.
“You raise the questions and let the experts provide the opinions. Even in the medical field, there are people with different expertise, so we need to get the right persons to answer our questions in order to educate the public,” he said.
“When we are able to do this, it is good journalism. Anything short of that will confuse people, create fear and panic, which is a disservice to the country. Let’s stop putting out what we think on issues we don’t understand”.
Source: GNA
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This advice should be given to okayfm,peacefm,Neatfm and the rest of the radio stations, that is what they have been doing because they have sell their concient for money,how can they call somebody like Sammy Gyamfi when there is medical issues at hand,if not supidity and unprofessional journalism what else? kojo I agree with you.
Was the Justice Emile Shot Commission on the by-ielections violence not experts? Experts do not make you the only true person(s). Let us allow free interrogation of our findings and correct them. No one is above corrections and no one knows all. When figures are been questioned, let the experts speak to our understanding and not rather politicians. We have many discerning minds. God bless and heal our world from this disease.
I was really disappointed when Evance Mensah of Joyfm was trying to discredit the modalities use in testing patients with claims that because certain people might be tested twice, then that constitutes duplication hence the number put out as tested is not correct. I was ashamed to hear a journalist who does not have the knowledge of how things work in other fields at the same acting as expects to discredit it. A similar thing happened on Citi morning show program were those boys behaving like expects in everything just because they can form their own ***barred word*** opinion on air based on some mental gimmick of thought not base on fact and scientific procedure. A test is a test, if I purchase 200 pregnancy kits to test my wife and every morning it came out negative until the 120th time when I finally received positive, how many testing have I done on my single wife? And in other to ensure she is really positive won't I do extra testing? And isn't that testing and results could be positive or negative? And doesn't that add up? Instead of the media focusing on preventive measures and how we can all do our bit to alleviate this suffering, they are doing ***barred word*** programming and acting like expects when they are clueless. Picking information from other countries and posing it as a measure for us to follow is a mark of clueless media houses. Because others put their testing procedure and info online doesn't mean we should do same. Government focus and primary objective are to prevent the spread and protect its citizens not to engage in unnecessary debate over data presentation.
While publishing this, Peace FM does the exact opposite to the noble call and invited Sammy Gyamfi on "the Platform" to spew the usual su*b*bis*h. Our No.1 problem in this country is the media and journalists. They simply refuse to mature and see themselves as untouchables. They never admit when they are wrong, just like the propagandists they invite and call every time.
AND WHO ARE THE EXPERTS? YOU OR THOSE PARTY FOLKS YOU HAVE PACKED IN THE HEALTH SECTOR? MASSA, WE KNOW YOU GUYS ARE COOKING FIGURES. DON'T WORRY, AT THE RIGHT TIME, YOU WILL BE DEALT WITH. FOR NOW, CONTINUE COOKING YOUR FIGURES.
Massa massa massa gyai gyimie no, aden na ndcfuo moagyimi saa. This simple thing you dont understand and you think every Ghanaian is a ***barred word*** like the ndc? Npp are people of substance not ***barred word*** like you who get double salary. Sh*ut up ! IRRITANTS ! Ndc wished they had sensible youth like you Kojo , Pius, Sammy Awuku, Fatimatu, Eugene, Yaw Preko etc nanka babi awu ama won nkwas*eafuo like Sammy Gyamfo, Sam George, Akando, Ahi etc are ndc potion.
MR KOOMSON AND PEOPLE IN GHANA WHO HAVE NO STABLE WORK IN ACCRA, KUMASI,TEMA, TAKORADI, TAMALE, KASOA OR THE OTHER CITIES MUST GET OUT OF SUCH PLACES TO TAKE REFUGE IN THEIR HOME VILLAGES AND TOWNS. RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM CORONA VIRUS IN NEW YORK, ITALY, SPAIN, FRANCE, UK, BELGIUM, NETHERLANDS, GERMANY AND SOME OTHER PLACES BECAUSE OF THE HIGH POLLUTION FROM NITROGEN DIOXIDE IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF SUCH REGIONS. NITROGEN DIOXIDE IS GENERATED FROM FUEL EMISSION OF VEHICLES AND HEAVY INDUSTRIAL MACHINES. COVID-19 DEATH RATE IS VERY HIGH IN WESTERN EUROPE AND NEW YORK BECAUSE OF THE HIGH POLLUTION. CONTRARY TO THE PROJECTIONS OF W.H.O. AND OTHERS, THE LESS INDUSTRIALIZED AFRICA IS SAFER TO EXPERIENCE LOW DEATH, WHEN EVEN THE INFECTION GET HIGH IN THE CONTINENT. THIS CAN BE A BLESSING IN MISFORTUNE. GOD IS GREAT.
I blame Journalists at Peace FM who like sensalism and write any piece that will make headlines but nothing good in it
Say this again to the NDC people. Their aim is to muddy the waters, create confusion, get things to collapse, people to die, then they will turn round and accuse the government of failing, and so Ghanaians should vote for them. If not, how come everything the president does, they have a counter position? Whenever they have nothing to say but agree with the president, then they say those are Mahama's ideas the president is implementing. How diabolical can people be? Thankfully, God has seen through all these things, and their day of reckoning will come.
Excellent Kojo, agree with u.