News:
Rt. Hon Speaker
February 22, 2022
Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has admonished journalists in Parliament to properly cross check their facts before publishing as according to him politicians would continue to give journalists leads.
According to him the politicians would put spin on leads they give out to journalists, but it is the duty of journalists in the pursuit of their job to do a balance and professional work by thoroughly examining the leads.
“Listen to both sides of a story and even go the extra mile for a third independent affirmation of the story”. He said this when he commissioned an office for the Parliamentary Press Corps.
The Speaker further pointed out that, members of the PPC should go beyond the chamber for source of story including the hanzard, and touch base with researchers as parliament plans to open an achiever office to try and retrieve all lost materials they have since the 1850s.
The Speaker also suggested that there are a lot of human interest stories around that are very informative that journalists can highlight, but said he unfortunately does not get to read much from them on such issues including the personal relation between members here and staff. “There is diversity, and diversity is the spies of life, none of us created that diversity, is the creator himself, it is something that we should whole heartedly embrace and accept”, he added.
He affirmed that these human interest stories from Parliament are important to ensure that Ghanaians out there do not think that parliament is all heat; “we are always fighting, no, no, there are a lot of times we had good times together, our understanding of democracy may defer at this early stages, we are trying to see how we can synchronize and then come together and develop mother Ghana”.
He hoped the facility at the press center would be used to the benefit of journalists and they should not shy away from approaching staffs and Members of Parliament for additional information on issues that may not be clear to them.
The Rt. Hon Speaker further revealed that this year there would be a number of activities with the media to try and build their capacity for the task ahead and they would want members of the PPC to feel as part of Parliament.
“You, don’t just belong to your media house, you are part of parliament, we have put things in place for you. Many people out there do not value MPs so there are some chief executive when I invite them they ignore my invitation they do not come; if I try to haul them before the privileges committee they would say the Speaker is King Kong, I am just enforcing the law”.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com