Crime reporters must cultivate relationship with prosecutors

Crime reporters have been advised to cultivate a working relationship with Police Prosecutors and ensure that activities within the courts are reported accurately, Mrs Dzifa Azumah, a Legal Practitioner stated at Tema.

Mrs Azumah who is also a Chief Editor at the Ghana News Agency explained that when media personnel cultivated a friendly attitude with the Police Prosecutors, Lawyers, Court Clerks and others, it would enhance their reportage and improve upon their news hunting power.

“It is important for journalists to establish good rapport with officers of the court. Make friends with the prosecutors they have good stories and would be able to tell you when a case is due for court or judgements have been delivered,” she noted.

Mrs Azumah made the recommendation during the second Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office project dubbed “GNA-Tema Stakeholder Engagement and Workers Appreciation Day,” seminar which is a platform rolled out for state and non-state actors to address national issues.

The event also served a motivational mechanism to recognize the editorial contribution of reporters towards national development in general and growth and promotion of the Tema GNA as the industrial news hub.

She said the court was an interesting place to report from, but could also be a dangerous place for journalists when they fail to adhere to rules and regulations at the court.

Mrs Azumah noted that crime reporting builds one’s journalistic skills and enhances journalists’ capacity to dig for stories.
“Arm yourself with the skills to follow news leads and how to interview people to extract information and write crisp, clear, and interesting stores under pressure due to deadline and the timeliness of the news”.

She said crime reporters have the responsibility to provide information to counteract fake news. It is the duty of journalists to tell the truth of events in court, to help the public understand actions of Prosecutors, Lawyers, and Judges.

“It is not only the major crimes, which makes the most interesting news, people are also interested in knowing about the small issues, minor crimes, lets follow all criminal cases, we will offer valuable information for the protection of the people and most of the small crime stories act as stress relievers as they have very interesting angles,” Mrs Azumah noted.

Mr Francis Ameyibor, Regional Manager, Ghana News Agency, Tema, said the Agency’s Regional Office has shaped itself as a vanguard for industrial communication and a catalyst for change to promote national development.

He said with Tema as an industrial nerve of the country, it was reasonable for the GNA regional office to position itself to become the frontline of industrial communication to advance the country’s growth.

Therefore, he noted that the regional office of the Agency had developed systematic pillars which pragmatic journalism hinged on; including a mechanism to deepen the working relationship with its stakeholders, to ensure that both the media and the corporate world worked towards national development.

He said, in marketing, a product must be promoted through various mediums; hence the Agency which was strategically placed as a credible news organization must project itself in the world of business and to deepen its relationship with its stakeholders for mutual benefit to advance its prospects.

Mr Ameyibor disclosed that, as part of efforts to deepen national cohesion and promote the cultural heritage of Tema and its environs through diversity, the GNA regional office was packaging traditional news as it had already engaged the Ada Traditional Council and Kpone-Katamanso Traditional Area in that regard.

He said the office had begun the “Tracking of Development Projects” initiative in some selected districts as part of a crusade to enhance accountability and deepen grassroots participation in local government.

“The project seeks to improve policy management and decision making systems in the country to ensure that policy analysis processes, impacts and the feedback systems necessary for effective executive decision making are adhered to,” he added.

The second GNA-Tema Stakeholder Engagement and Workers Appreciation Day seminar was attended by the National Commission for Civic Education, GBC Obonu FM, and other officials from state and non-state institutions.