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Mr Akoto Ampaw, a Member of the National Media Commission (NMC) on Saturday called on journalists to maintain their integrity and independence from political actors. He also asked them to be on guard against stereotyping and prejudicial comments that had the tendency to incite intolerance and hatred. Mr Ampaw was delivering a paper on the topic, �Exposure to hidden prejudices, hate speech, stereotypes and misconceptions: Approaches to responsible use of content and language� at two-day capacity building workshop for staff of the Ghana News Agency in Ho. Participants were drawn from the Eastern, Volta and Greater Accra regions. The workshop which was under the auspices of STAR-Ghana, a multi-donor funding mechanism, had as its theme, �upgrading GNA�s human capital for in-depth coverage of election 2012 and beyond.� Mr Ampaw said stereotyping, prejudice and hate speech undermined freedom of expression and charged media practitioners to shame politicians who would want to use such methods as means for political mobilization. He described the media as vehicles of public enlightenment and urged journalists to consciously avoid sensationalism and promote truth. He observed that major political parties in the country were using misinformation, which provided fertile ground for intolerance and hate speech and urged the media to be on guard. Mr Ampaw said though the country had no clear law on hate speech, journalists would be called to answer for their roles in promoting such speech. He urged them to highlight similarities in society and national identity in diversity.