Bartels urges Media to focus on issues

Accra, Jan. 14, GNA - Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Information and National Orientation on Saturday asked media practitioners to focus on issues that would ensure unity and cooperation among the people rather than create enmity among them.

In addition, he said they should focus more on social and developmental issues that were critical to the country's socio-economic development adding "It is no longer fashionable for the media to only pick on politicians and relegate social and developmental issues to the background."

Mr Bartels made the call at the launching of "Sunday World" a weekly newspaper that would deal with issues confronting the society and set the agenda for the following week.

The 32-page newspaper would in addition bring up thought provoking issues into the public domain.

Mr Bartels appealed to owners of media organisations to build good corporate entity that would enhance conditions of service of their staff.

Dr Aggrey Ntim, Deputy Minister of Communication called on media practitioners to research into issues they published rather than speculate.

He said Government was establishing the Fibre-Optic backbone to support the telecommunication sector in the country and urged media organisations to take advantage of some of its programmes.

Mr Edward Boateng, Managing Director of Global Media Alliance (GMA) challenged the Ghanaian media to aspire for the highest journalistic practice since they could compete with the best journalists anywhere in the world.

He urged them to refrain from the negative stereotypes of the Western media that portrayed everything from Africa negatively. Mr Boateng asked media practitioners to make the quality of their writing the focal point in the dissemination process. Mr Kwasi Nantwi, Acting Editor of Sunday World, said it was unique being the only newspaper published on Sunday and would make a difference in the newspaper industry to enlarge the frontiers of freedom and democracy in the country.