Ghanaian Scientists complain of low media coverage

From Boakye-Dankwa Boadi, GNA Special Correspondent, Bonn, Germany

Bonn (Germany), June 23, GNA - Ghanaian Scientists attending the 2010 Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany, on Tuesday complained of low media coverage of their activities, but the journalists countered by saying that they have rather not been forthcoming.

A panel made up three scientists and three journalists was discussing "Covering Climate Change in West Africa: An Exchange between Journalists and Scientists" at the ongoing Forum on the theme: "The Heat is on- Climate Change and the Media."

The scientists complained that the Ghanaian media were generally not keen in following their activities unless they organised a programme and invited them, and even that the journalists left after the opening ceremony and seldom sat in to listen to presentations. They said apart from one or two media houses that had done documentaries on their activities on climate change their works have not been communicated to the people.

They also complained of misrepresentation by the media, which they said, affected their credibility among their peers, citing the recent media report of an impending drought in Ghana this year, when in reality what the Ghana Meteorological Agency had said was that the country was going to experience lower rainfall.

The journalists countered by saying that the scientists had rather not been forthcoming and cited instances where scientists had told them that they needed to get clearance from their superior officers before they could grant interviews.

They pointed out to the scientists that if the media did not go to them and they had anything for the people all that they needed to do was to call any media house and to ask for an interview just as they did whenever they organised an event.

On misrepresentation, the journalists said the media, being a human institution, sometimes made mistakes but the good thing was that such mistakes were corrected immediately they were detected. Both sides resolved to work together to educate the people on climate change, a global phenomenon that has the potential of wreaking catastrophic consequences on Planet Earth.

The scientists were Ben Ampomah, Acting Executive Secretary of Ghana Water Resources Commission; Wilson Agyare, Senior Lecturer, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi and Benjamin Kofi Nyarko, Lecturer of University of Cape Coast. The journalists were Boakye-Dankwa Boadi, Supervising Chief Editor, Ghana News Agency; Edward Kwame Aklade, Mobile Reporter, Voices of Africa, Media Foundation, and Anna Godfrey, Senior Research Operations Manager, BBC World Service Trust. Dirk Asendorpf, a Freelance Journalist, was the Moderator.