The National Security Council Secretariat has stated that even though Ghana is a beacon of peace in West Africa, this peace is not guaranteed and must, therefore, be protected every single day.
The Deputy National Security Coordinator, Elizabeth Ama Yankah, pointed out that state security alone could not guarantee the peace, stability, and security of the nation in the current globalised world, but needed the collaboration of all, including the media.
“Ghana’s national security strategy is very clear. It states that the provision of security is not only through the work of soldiers and the police.
It is the work of its citizens as well. So the media is not a bystander in all this. You are a very important partner, and the nation depends on you.”
“You are the bridge between the state and its citizens. When you report accurately, you inform. When you verify before you publish, you protect. When you resist sensationalism, you save lives,” she said of the media.
Ms Yankah said this at a strategic engagement between state security and media practitioners last Wednesday.
The engagement, which was organised by the National Security Secretariat, was meant to build a partnership for accurate reporting, crisis communication, and countering misinformation.
Organised on the theme: “Truth and trust, partnering for national security in peace and crisis times”, the engagement was attended by members of the state security agencies and stakeholders in Ghana’s media space, including the National Media Commission (NMC), the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association.
Steps
Ms Yankah proposed four practical steps that would help the media and the security agencies to work together.
These, she said, included establishing a verification channel between the media and state security agencies, explaining that journalists should never rely on anonymous sources for information from the security agencies just because the official sources were silent.
Furthermore, she said, there should be a crisis communication protocol that would handle information to the media when emergencies such as fire, flood and terror threats occurred, while there should be a commitment to diligence from both ends and a consistent follow-up mechanism.
“A lot of circumspection and verification should be seen in the publication of sensitive conflicts, security operations, or ethnic tensions.
Transparency remains important, but the preservation of peace should inform our actions. A single false report can endanger the lives of soldiers, police officers, and civilians.
It can turn a peaceful protest into a riot. It can turn a neighbour into an enemy and lead to violent conflicts in communities,” she said.
She said as Ghana’s democracy continued to thrive, all must protect it, adding that freedom of expression was a constitutional right, but the media must demonstrate responsibility as it exercises those rights.
Engagement
The Director of the Counter Terrorism Fusion Centre, Brigadier General Dr Timothy Ba-Taa-Banah, explained that the engagement reflected their shared commitment to strengthening the relationship between security institutions and the media, adding that it provided a platform for open dialogue, mutual understanding and constructive partnership.
He said all had a role to play in ensuring the survival of the nation and the interests of its people when national security was being discussed.
The Chairperson of the NMC, Professor Akua O. Britwum, said the commission continued to handle complaints, and, therefore, anyone with complaints against the media could come to them.
The President of the GJA, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, urged members of the security agencies to use the right platform to address issues involving the media.
He said any attempt to arrest or intimidate journalists amounted to censorship.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh