Coronavirus: Focus solely on official channels of information – Government to media

Government has cautioned the media against putting out unverified information about the deadly coronavirus(COVID-19) disease.

According to the government, this, if not done, will leave the media publishing or airing information that will unnecessarily cause fear and panic among the citizenry.

A section of the public has become terrified following the announcement of two confirmed cases of the deadly coronavirus in Ghana.

Six cases of coronavirus(COVID-19) have so far been recorded and confirmed in Ghana.

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah in an interview stated that the media must focus solely on the official channel of information regarding the outbreak of the disease to enable them to feed the public with factual information.

He urged media personnel to guard against rushing to be the first to break news about the coronavirus disease when that piece of information has not been verified from government official sources, adding that nothing will be hidden from the public.

“I’m pleading with my colleagues in the media focus only on the official channels of information. There should be no reason for a journalist to rush to break news which has not been verified. This is not the time for competition among media houses as to who first breaks the news. Government has planned to update the public every Wednesday and Sunday concerning the coronavirus outbreak. We’ll not hide anything from the people. If we don’t focus on the official channel of information we’ll end up misinforming the public.”