Journalists in northern Ghana trained on effective population reporting 

About 40 selected journalists from the Northern part of Ghana have been trained on population issues to help sharpen their skills in analysing basic data and effective reporting on population.

They were drawn from Northern, Bono, Bono East, Upper West and Upper East regions.

Organised by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), with funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the three-day workshop sought to strengthen the capacity of media practitioners with the requisite knowledge, skills, and best practices to cover and report on population statistics and sexual reproductive health issues. 

They were taken through topics such as evidence base reporting, Ghana National Population Policy and implications for Ghana Population Growth, Population dynamics and population communication and Report on media scan on population issues, among others.

Population

Speaking at the opening ceremony in Tamale on Monday [June 5, 2023], the Northern Regional Statistician, George Agbenyo, emphasised the need for journalists to build thier capacities on population related issues as they were always in the front line reporting issues concerning people's welfare across the country.

He said it was expected that at the end of the three-day workshop, participants would pay attention to details in reporting issues and adhere to ethical standards in reporting.

Mr Agbenyo, therefore, admonished journalists to develop much interest in reporting on issues about population and reproductive health rights to help promote the rights of the people.

For his part, the Head of Regional Offices Directorate of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Emmanuel G. Ossei, said no institutions or individual had influence in statistics that the GSS compiled, adding that all reports churn out by the service were credible and accurate.

Accurate reporting 

The Northern Regional Chapter Chairman of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA), Majeed Yakubu, urged journalists to be factual and truthful in their reportage.

He said since the inception of the 1992 constitution, there had been a proliferation of media in Ghana with the northern, not being an exception.

He expressed concern about how some media practitioners don't go by the ethics of the profession, explaining that they use their mediums to do what pleases them without due regard to the code of ethics and standards of journalism. 

"Some are basically using their medium to insult and attack people instead of holding duty bearers and officialdom accountable" he said