The Northern Regional Office of the National Peace Council (NPC) has called for closer collaboration with the media operating in the Region to find ways of maintaining peace.
The Most Rev Philip Naameh, the Archbishop of the Tamale Diocese of the Catholic Church, said this at a meeting with heads of some media houses in Tamale.
The meeting was to solicit media support and throwing more light on the activities of the Council to promote peace and development.
Most Rev. Naameh, who is the Northern Regional Chairman of the National Peace Council, said the media had been identified as a useful partner, which could help achieve the objectives of the National Peace Council.
He said efforts of the Council could be in vein if the media did not provide the platform for dialogue and discussions on peace.
?We, the Regional Peace Council consider the media as our most important collaborators and that is why we think it is necessary to set out and find ways of embarking on our mandate in seeking assistance from you?, he said.
He said reporting on peace was a delicate field and the media must act responsibly when reporting on matters that touched on the sensitivity of the people especially on ethnicity and religion.
Most Rev. Naameh said information from the media had the potential to either promote unity and healthy relationship among the citizenry or create divisions depending on the type of information disseminated.
He expressed the hope that the media would promote good values in society that would give permanent hope to the hopeless especially those who had been affected by conflicts and felt hopeless.
Mr Caesar Abagali, the Northern Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), said the media would continue to carry out its watchdog role and would refrain from reporting on issues that had might create instability.
He said over the past decade the media had been painting gloomy pictures of the Northern Region because of conflicts.
Mr Abagali said the media in the Region would soon embark on development and education programmes to sensitize the public on the need for peace and unity.
He said the GJA in the Region would continue with its partnership with all stakeholders including the NPC to see areas of collaboration to ensure that the Region was marketed in a positive manner to attract more investors.
GNA
