THE UPPER WEST REGIONAL MINISTER DR HAFIZ BIN SALIH APPEALED TO MEDIA PRACTITIONERS IN THE REGION TO FOCUS THEIR ATTENTION ON DEVELOPMENTAL BASE ISSUES RATHER THAN PAYING MUCH ATTENTION ON POLITICIANS.
He indicated that, the focus of the media in the Upper West Region is on politicians, while there are other pressing developmental issues in the region that go uncovered.
He said most of the news items that emanated from the region were either on what the Regional Minister, a District Chief Executive or a Municipal Chief Executive had gone somewhere to do or say. Dr. Bin Salih said this when the new Regional Director for the Upper West Regional Ghana Broadcasting Corperation (GBC), Mr Christopher Asiedu, called on him on Tuesday, to among other things, introduce him to the Minister and consolidate the relationship between the GBC and the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC).
“What I have observed about the media in the Upper West Region is that, the focus is always on us the politicians, most of the news items are either Regional Minister went and did this here or the MCE or the DCE”, he explained.
Dr Bin Salih, however, stressed the need for the media in the region to go beyond the politicians and to bring to the fore, some other developmental issues in the region. “Because of the absence of information out their people have wrong and negative perception about the Upper West Region. Therefore, it is your responsibility to tell the world that the perception that they have about the region is not what it is”, he explained.
Dr Bin Salih urged the leadership of the GBC in the region not to perpetuate politics of insults through their airwaves as that could mar the relative peace the region was enjoying. He advised all Media Houses in the region to blacklist anybody engaging in politics of insult from their stations. He is of the believe that, when media houses don’t entertain such people at their stations, they would not get the opportunity to be trading politics of insult.
He stated that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would engage in issue based campaign, comparing the performance of the NPP government to that of other political parties. On his part, Mr Asiedu said the media and for that matter, the GBC was mandated to project the region, play advocacy role, and provide information and education to the general public. He thus sought the support and co-operation of the Regional Minister and the RCC in the discharge of his duties to ensure the corperation achieved its objective.