Eastern Region journalists receive economic, financial reporting training
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has stressed the need for journalists, particularly reporters, morning show hosts and radio presenters, to be abreast with financial and economic issues to enable them to report accurately.
That, it indicated, would enable journalists to appropriately and factually report on such issues at their various media outlets without any problem.
The Director of Communications at the BoG, Bernard Otabil, made this statement during the opening of a three-day media capacity-building seminar in the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, last Thursday.
The seminar, organised by the BoG for journalists in the Eastern Region, aimed at equipping about 25 selected participants from various media houses in the region with a deeper understanding of accurate economic and financial reporting.
Topics treated
Participants were taken through topics such as accurate reporting, monetary policy practice in Ghana, understanding inflation dynamics in Ghana and recent developments in the foreign exchange market.
Others were responsible for borrowing, understanding the central bank balance sheet and macroeconomic analysis and the significance of microeconomic indicators.
Mr Otabil stated that misinformation and disinformation in financial journalism occurred because journalists in the past were not abreast with financial and economic issues.
He, therefore, advised journalists, especially reporters from media houses, to constantly update themselves on such important issues before reporting in their media outlets.
To address the challenges posed by misinformation and disinformation in the country, Mr Otabil stated that the central bank had embarked on a series of regional media engagements to strengthen the relationship between the bank and journalists for accurate reporting.
He said so far, media training programmes had already been held in the Volta, Western and Ashanti regions, with an average of 75 journalists attending such seminars.
Monetary policy
According to the Director of Communications at BoG, the training had allowed the bank to formalise and establish a dedicated press corps, which had helped to propagate the bank's monetary policy decisions and activities to Ghanaians in the regions.
To further enhance the bank's relationship with the media, Mr Otabil indicated that a dedicated WhatsApp channel had been created in that respect.
“You can only succeed in financial and economic issues if you better understand the subject matter and are also good at reporting on the subject matter.
“That is why we are here to provide training on what we do as a central bank, particularly our monetary policy report,” he said.
Deeper understanding
He further indicated that "there have been instances where reports have been made or presented inaccurately, and this is often due to the lack of deep understanding of financial and economic issues.
“If the price of goods and services keeps rising while your income remains the same, you can no longer afford what you used to buy. That is why controlling inflation is crucial, as it directly impacts the standard of living of all citizens.”
On the issue of specialisation in journalism, Mr Otabil emphasised that the importance of continuous learning was crucial to upgrade the knowledge base of journalists to be effective in reporting on economic and financial issues.
Dedicated time
He advised reporters interested in financial and economic reporting to dedicate time to reading at least one article per week on economic and business topics, stating that such practice could transform them into experts over time.
“One seminar cannot make you an expert overnight. But consistency in learning will give you the understanding. If you read a 500-word article on financial matters every week, in a year, you would have read 52 articles, enough to give you a strong grasp of the subject,” he told the participants.
Mr Otabil also highlighted the global standard of financial journalism, pointing out that in countries such as the United Kingdom (UK), media houses often prefer subject-matter specialists who are trained in reporting rather than generalist reporters.
He said such training programmes are part of the BoG’s broader efforts to enhance media capacity, ensuring that financial news coverage remains accurate, insightful and beneficial to the public.
Collaboration
The Eastern Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Maxwell Kudekor, said the GJA, over the years, had collaborated effectively with several institutions to train journalists on specific areas of interest to advance a well-informed society.
Capacity building, he indicated, empowered individual journalists to continue to improve their skills and acquisition of knowledge of new things, enabling them to excel in their careers and seize new opportunities.
Mr Kudekor commended BoG for organising the seminar to upgrade the knowledge of journalists in economic and financial reporting to ensure accurate reporting on such issues.
Writer's email: haruna.wunpini@graphic.com.gh
