By Clement Akoloh
Deputy Government Spokesperson Hon. Shamima Muslim and National Security Coordinator COP Osman Abdul-Razak have called for a new pact between government, security agencies and the media to protect Ghana’s information integrity.
Speaking at PRINPAG’s Capacity Building Workshop on Responsive National Security Reporting in Accra, Hon. Muslim said print media is bleeding, with daily sales collapsing from 100,000 copies in 2005 to a fraction today, and must evolve from newspaper to knowledge partner.
“Print is record, not just paper. If print loses relevance we will lose our national memory. Print must not die, it must evolve,” she said.
She proposed a secure verification hotline between PRINPAG leadership, National Security and her office for rapid fact-checking during security incidents, stressing it is not censorship but verification.
“The Resetting Ghana agenda does not ask the media to protect government from criticism. We ask all of us to protect Ghana from falsehood, from division and from insecurity,” she said.
For his part, COP Abdul-Razak said the information space is part of Ghana’s security perimeter and warned that terrorists exploit ethnic and religious grievances reported irresponsibly.
“You must be very careful. The terrorist is looking for somebody to align with. He tells you you are not being treated fairly,” he warned.
He said responsible journalism is a vital defense against insecurity and reminded journalists they are a source of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT).
“When you report subjectively what you are supposed to be objective about, you are not doing objective reporting. Don’t transform the press into a mercenary press,” he said, citing Rwanda’s genocide.
Quoting Pulitzer, he said “courage may be born in a journalist but trained intelligence must be built deliberately,” and urged journalists not to stay in the middle when they know what is right.
“You don’t drive in the middle. If it’s wrong you say it, if it’s right you say it,” he said.
He announced his office will establish a standard dialogue channel between security services and newsrooms and co-develop guidelines for security reporting with PRINPAG.
The workshop was organized by PRINPAG in collaboration with the National Security Secretariat and was attended by media owners, editors, senior journalists, and security experts.
Source: africanewsradio.com
