Journalists Urged To Play Advocacy Roles

The Board Chairman of the Graphic Communication Group Limited, Dr Doris Yaa Dartey, has said it was time for Ghanaian journalists to play advocacy roles instead of only reporting daily on the activities of politicians. She said there were things of concern journalists could report on but journalists reported on what the politician said without taking into consideration the needs and aspirations of the citizenry. Dr Dartey said this at the opening of a three-day capacity building workshop organized by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for members of the Central and Western regions Media Network on Social Accountability in Cape Coast on Monday. The workshop is to enable members of the network come out with a working plan to enable them facilitate the participation of the citizenry in the budget process of District, Municipal and Metropolitan assemblies. She appealed to journalists to move away from jack/flock journalism, stressing that as pack journalists it did not allow them to make the necessary follow-ups on stories. Dr Dartey said content analysis of newspapers in Ghana showed that many stories reported in the media were either �hanging or unfinished� and urged them to follow up on their stories to help their reading public to be properly informed, educated and entertained. Dr Dartey admitted that journalists worldwide did not like reporting on issues of mathematics and figures and urged them to overcome the fear of figures and develop the interest in the budget process of MMDAs, adding that was the only way journalists could encourage the citizenry to participate in the district assembly budget process. She said as the Fourth Realm of the State and duty bearers, journalists had the task to encourage the public to know their rights and responsibilities and to ask questions since it was their democratic right to do so. �Asking questions enhances participatory democracy, but the power of the people will be taken back if they don�t ask questions on issues that concern them,� she said. Dr Dartey said it was the responsibility of the mass media to facilitate the growth of the nation�s democracy and commended the media in moving the development of the nation forward and appealed to journalists not to rest on their oars. She expressed regret that some cultural practices in Ghana were anti-democratic and asked that efforts should be made to break such cultural rules and practices that were autocratic and undermined people.