Eschew misleading publications that affect COVID-19 recovery - Oppong Nkrumah to media

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has urged the Ghanaian media to eschew the publication of misleading reports that affect the country's post-COVID-19 economic recovery.

Delivering the keynote address at the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting on Tuesday (August 24, 2021) in Accra, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said such reports deter investors and the general public from participating in economic activities that boost development.

He noted that throughout global economic history, the media had integral roles in economic recovery by either providing positive judgements or by providing negative explicit judgements about economic situations.

"When we instil fear and negativity as our primary content, the consumer confidence required to aid our collective recovery and the advertising revenues that makes us survive as businesses are challenged," Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.

"Such negative publicity arises partly due to the unhealthy competition between media outlets. To beat the competition, some media outlets select stories which play on the emotions of the consuming public which could potentially interfere with the effort to rally all of us to rise together".

Commendation

Commending the media for the vital role it played after Ghana recorded its first COVID-19 case last year, Mr Oppong Nkrumah called for similar support for the country's economic recovery.

He said the media was a vital partner of the state in averting that health crisis and can do the same by becoming a catalyst for Ghana's economic recovery from the pandemic.

"It is clear that when the media stepped-up to the plate and played a vital role in influencing society, when the media focused heavily on reporting facts, heavily on getting properly accredited experts to do analysis of the facts, heavily on amplifying the robust marketing communications efforts from governments and health practitioners, the evidence is that together we have made laudable gains in this fight and this is exactly what we will need in the second crisis, the economic crisis," Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.

More to follow...