The Minister for National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah, has urged journalists to be circumspect in their reportage regarding issues of national security.
According to him, matters of security must not be sensationalized by media practitioners.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of a day’s sensitization workshop for the media on the country’s National Security Strategy, Kan Dapaah called for collaboration between the media and security agencies to foster peace in Ghana.
“There is a limit to the role of other accountability institutions but for the media, it possesses the independence that enables it to hold the government to account. The media, by definition, is an independent institution. It is a very important duty the media play, which is why we get concerned”.
“That is why it is important that our media men and women don’t play with the security and stability of the country. Also, it is important that the media is able to do away with sensational stories that have very serious security implications and not because it will help to sell newspapers and get viewership”, the Minister added.
The media engagement was the first of three sessions the National Security Ministry is to hold in collaboration with the Ministry of Information.
In this session, the Ministry was seeking the thoughts of stakeholders and the media for a successful implementation of the National Security Strategy (NSS).
Participating journalists were from the Greater Accra, Central, Western, Volta, Western-North and Oti regions.