Help fight corruption, Togolese to Ghanaian journalists
A Togolese investigative journalist, Mr Maxime Domegni has reiterated the need for Ghanaian journalists to continue to contribute to the fight against corruption in the country.
According to him, journalists are the last resort in the fight against corruption and failure for them to discharge their duties well would help the canker to thrive in the country and the sub-region as a whole.
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Training
Mr Domegvi was speaking at the second day of a two-day training programme organised by the NewsBridge Africa, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with focus on media training.
The training, organised at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in Accra from Thursday to Friday, July 12 to 13, this year, was held on the theme: "Getting the facts right in the era of social media".
It was organised with financial support from the Australian High Commission in Ghana.
Mr Domegni, however, said journalists could only discharge their duties well if only they do not stay passive in the anti-corruption fight.
He said journalists must resist all forms of temptions in their line of duty to expose corruption, saying that no anti-corruption journalist would allow himself or herself to be bought by corrupt people.
"No money is enough to buy your integrity," he said.
Mr Domegni also cautioned journalists to be cautious in their quest to embark on investigation journalism, stressing that "if we do not cross-check what we are publishing, we may lose our integrity".
The Executive Director of NewsBridge Africa, a media training and resource NGO, Mr Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, encouraged journalists to always cross-check their facts before putting it to the public domain.
He said many journalists in their rush to publish their stories do not often check their facts, a situation he said, is quite rampant in the Ghanaian media landscape.
He said "we have to educate our audience instead of deepening their ignorance".
Mr Dogbevi said journalism is all about facts and that journalists must strive to give their readers nothing but facts in their reportage.
Topics
The participants, selected from the various media houses in Accra were taken through some concepts, including how to check facts, fact-checking, social media for journalists, story telling as well as group work and presentation.
The training, according to Mr Dogbevi, will be extended to other journalists in other regions.