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Media practitioners must be gatekeepers of truths & facts – Lecturer

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Nana Acheampong, senior lecturer at the African University College of Communications, has reminded media practitioners of their responsibility as “gatekeepers for truths and facts.”

Mr. Acheampong, speaking to Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, urged journalists to continue to hold firm to the ethics of their professions to help the country deal with the alarming cases of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

“Our job is to make sure that before we publish, before we share, before we comment on any news item, we have verified its authenticity and that we know that it is an incontrovertible fact,” he said.

Mr. Acheampong urged the public to be guided by UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy, “which tells us to first of all check the source of the news, whether it is online or in traditional media. Also, assess where it is coming from. Check your content, and then check where the news is destined. If you do these checks, you will know who is sending the message, what message the person is sending, and who that particular sender wants the message to reach. When you have this intelligence, you automatically have an idea if there is an agenda or not. You can also use tools on social media to check, counter-check, and cross-check simple news items that come along as a media consumer.”

While admitting that Ghana is dealing with cases of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, Mr. Acheamping added that the country is not isolated as these have become of global concern. 

“Ghana is not isolated when it comes to the issues of misinformation and disinformation. Ghana, just as America, just as any other country, has this problem. It is a bit more difficult when you are dealing with a community where social media is more advanced. When it comes to Ghana, misinformation and disinformation occur more on social media than on traditional media. The consumers of those particular media are those that are prone to being misinformed or disinformed.”

In line with helping media practitioners deal with misinformation and disinformation, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) recently trained 125 journalists across the country on fact-checking and countering mis-disinformation in Ghana. The purpose of the two-day training series was to expose the journalists to concepts such as information disorder, fake news, and misinformation, how pervasive they are, how they manifest, as well as their impact on peace and democratic governance.

The second component of the training provided a deep dive into some fact-checking and verification tools that can be used to identify and counter misinformation, as well as fact-checking standards and ethics. In Tamale, the journalists were brought together from the Upper East, Upper West, Northern, North East, Savannah, and Bono East regions. Similar training was organised in Kumasi, Ho, and Accra.

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana

US VEEP’s visit: Some social media pages, influencers misreported Prez Akufo Addo’s response on freedom for LGBTQI+ community

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More needs to be done to ensure that new items published by media outlets, social media influencers, and bloggers are accurate, verifiable, and put in the right context. Ace media practitioner Francis  Kokutse, citing a recent example of bad press given to the President of the country, Nana Akufo-Addo, expressed grave concerns about misinformation and disinformation.

“Look, when the US Vice President came here [Ghana] and she was in Accra, I followed her Associated Press. What President Akufo-Addo said in answer to the lady’s talk about freedom for the LGBTQI+ community, if you see the way some people have turned it on social media, it is different from what President Akufo-Addo said. Unfortunately, those news [items] on social media are what people would believe. They won’t believe what Graphic, Times, and GBC are saying,” Francis Kokutse, a media practitioner, said of the dangers of misinformation and disinformation when he spoke to Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show.

Mr. Kokutse, a media practitioner with decades of experience, expressed worry about the damage untrained media practitioners, as well as clout-chasing social media influencers, could do as Ghana deals with media plurality and the adoption of social media.

He explained that verified news portals sold very little content while sensational media outlets and social media pages drew all the attention, a situation that calls for serious attention. 

“Traditional media has a role to play. They can put out the proper stories, cross-check them, and put them out there, but how many people would read them? Look currently at GBC. GBC won’t just put out any story; they would cross-check the stories, but if you watch their website, you find that the number of people who go on it is not huge. But if you take an unknown person sitting alone in his room and have him write nonsensical things on his new portal, you will get a large crowd reading it. So it is a terrible situation, and we can only change it through education.”

Mr. Kokutse encouraged media practitioners to use the digital tools available to them, like the Google Reverse Image Search, to verify news items before publication. 

In line with helping media practitioners deal with misinformation and disinformation, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) recently trained 125 journalists across the country on fact-checking and countering mis-disinformation in Ghana. The purpose of the two-day training series was to expose the journalists to concepts such as information disorder, fake news, and misinformation, how pervasive they are, how they manifest, as well as their impact on peace and democratic governance.

The second component of the training provided a deep dive into some fact-checking and verification tools that can be used to identify and counter misinformation, as well as fact-checking standards and ethics. In Tamale, the journalists were brought together from the Upper East, Upper West, Northern, North East, Savannah, and Bono East regions. Similar training was organised in Kumasi, Ho, and Accra.

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana

Grassroot is bent on punishing some NDC MPs who betrayed us – Francis Adingo seeks vengeance

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“We were disappointed at this crucial time when we are about to go for our primaries. It tells us that all is not well. It would have an effect on the primaries. The grassroot is bent on punishing some parliamentary aspirants, especially the sitting ones that probably, this is their first time they have gone to Parliament and they are own is just to look at money.”

Francis Adingo, a member of the NDC’s Upper East Regional Communication Team said this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show today, Thursday, March 30, 2023. 

It will be recalled that after hours of disagreements and a brief suspension, Parliament finally approved President Akufo-Addo’s six ministerial nominees.

Adansi Asokwa MP, Kobina Tahir Hammond, has been confirmed to head the Ministry of Trade and Industry, with Dr. Stephen Amoah appointed as Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry.

Member of Parliament for Abetifi, Brian Acheampong, has been approved as the Minister of Food and Agriculture, and the Member of Parliament for Karaga, Mohammed Amin Adam, has been okayed as Minister of State at the Finance Ministry.

Stephen Asamoah Boateng is the new Minister for Religious and Chieftaincy Affairs, while Mr. Osei Bonsu Amoah heads to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development as Minister of State.

Mr. KT Hammond secured 154 yes votes as against 116 no votes to gain approval from the house. Dr Stephen Amoah received 146 votes against 123 NO votes to pass the approval stage.

Also, Brian Acheampong was approved after receiving 167 YES votes. Meanwhile, Amin Adam secured 152 YES votes while O.B Amoah had 149 YES votes.

When Mr. Adingo spoke to Mark Smith, he said the NDC MPs who voted for the approval of the Ministers had betrayed the course of the party and would be made to face the consequences. 

He stressed that the delgates had ways of identifying the MPs who partook in the betrayal. 

“The are mecahnisms to check that within the party. Even me sitting here who is not a senior executive member can tell who can easily be persuaded to do what they did. It is not an assumption. You see, there is intelligence that we gather as far as party activities are concernced. 

Mr. Adingo’s positons falls in line with the position of the Upper East Regional Communications Director for the party, Jonathan Abdallah Salifu. 

Mr. Abdallah Salifu said the minority Members of Parliament (MP) would have to explain to the delegates in the upcoming primaries why some of them voted in favour of the approval of the ministers in Parliament on Friday, March 24, 2023. 

Additionally, some MPs may have to prove to delegates that they did not vote to approve the ministers. These actions are expected from the MPs to help manage the dashed expectations and hopes of members of the NDC. 

Failure to do the above, as well as apologise to delegates, would mean that the chances of the MPs could be affected. 

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana

Go after Facebook pages fueling Bawku conflict – UER GJA Chairman charges Ghana Police Service

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William Nlanjerbor Jalulah, General Manager, A1 Radio

William Nlanjerbor Jalulah, Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has identified social media as one of the platforms used to fuel conflict in the Bawku area.

Mr. Jalulah told Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show that some social media sites had been put up by unknown people. These social media pages have been attributed to either faction of the conflict and have been noted to publish materials liable to inflame passion and fuel the long-running chieftaincy conflict.

The Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service has thus been tasked with investigating, apprehending, and punishing the moderators of these pages as a means to help bring peace to the area. 

“Because of the changing nature of social media, I think we have a gap in regulating it in Ghana. You have people who can create social media handles, especially on Facebook, and put very disturbing content there, and we are not having our security agencies arrest them. I know the Ghana Police Service, for instance, has a Cyber Crime Unit led by a very intelligent police officer, but my question is, what has the Unit done?”

“Let me use the Bawku situation as a clear case. We have seen so many social media groups purporting to be speaking for or in favour of either side of the feuding parties. They post very disturbing pictures and information. These things are fueling the conflict,” Mr. Jalulah said, highlighting the dangers of misinformation and disinformation. 

According to the Upper East Regional Chairman of the GJA, some preliminary research into such pages indicates that the moderators may not even be residents within the country. 

“My checks have shown that the person behind some of this is not even in Ghana. The person is outside Ghana, has created that page, and has a following. If you see the content on the Facebook page, you will be surprised. Someone sits outside the country and is fueling the Bawku conflict through social media. Then you ask yourself, what is the Cyber Crime Unit doing?”

“Even if you are not able to get such people arrested, at least have the systems shut down so that they cannot spread the kind of information that they spread,” he said. 

The Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association reminded journalists within the region of their mandate to ensure that all materials they publish have been duly verified. 

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana

Upper East Regional Peace Council commends A1 Radio for being Upper East Region’s most reliable news source

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A1 Radio, a subsidiary of the Agreed Best Communication Company, has been recognised as the Upper East Region’s top news portal for credible news. The Upper East Regional Peace Council observed that the media outlet, based in the Upper East Regional capital, Bolgatanga, had carved out a niche as the region’s top news content provider.

The Upper East Regional Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, Ali Anankpieng, said this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Mark Smith on the Day Break Upper East Show today, Thursday, March 30, 2023. 

“I don’t want to be heaping praises on you, but for example, in the Upper East Region, there is nothing that would happen that A1 Radio would not report on. You have your people on the ground. You are able to check the accuracy of the things you are reporting on.”

“So if I am reading something about the Upper East Region and I google it and I don’t see it being reported by A1 or GBC, then I should just know that nothing like that [may] have happened.”

Additionally, on the Bawku conflict, Mr. Anankpieng cited national media outlets like GBC, the Ghanaian Times, Citi News, and the Multimedia Group as credible outlets. 

Mr. Anankpieng was worried that very often, information shared on social media and other unreliable media platforms harmed peace processes in the Bawku area. 

“Social media has its good and bad aspects. What we have seen is that people are in a rush to publish whatever they hear about Bawku. That would often turn out not to be true. That is the worry. Some of the information that is published by people who have nothing to do with the conflict. They are not even on the ground to know what is happening there. If you rely on the information they publish, you are likely to report something that is not true about the situation. We normally would advise that in situations like that, if you want to rely on social media for your news, then know how to verify the information before you can also spread it.”

“As ordinary people, there are simple ways of verifying. If something is reported from Bawku and it is really something serious, it will be reported by major news media. If you Google it and you do not see it on such platforms, then just know that this is likely not to be true. For example, if something is happening in Bawku and it is so serious, and you Google it, you are likely to see it being reported by GBC, Joy News, Citi News, Times, GNA. These are media houses that, at least, we can vouch for in terms of their ability and professionalism,” he said.

For journalists covering the Bawku conflict, the Peace Council, according to Mr. Anankpieng, has recommended that “you do conflict sensitive reporting. If you do conflict sensitive reporting, then you are one that is likely to verify information before you publish. If you are not conflict sensitive and you report on something that is not true, you can in fact inflame the already tense situation in Bawku.”

Mr. Anankpieng’s engagement with A1 Radio was part of the media outlet’s collaboration with the Media Foundation for West Africa to educate Upper East Region residents about the countering misinformation and disinformation.

Recently, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) trained 125 journalists across the country on fact-checking and countering mis-disinformation in Ghana. The purpose of the two-day training series was to expose the journalists to concepts such as information disorder, fake news, and misinformation, how pervasive they are, how they manifest, as well as their impact on peace and democratic governance.

The second component of the training provided a deep dive into some fact-checking and verification tools that can be used to identify and counter misinformation, as well as fact-checking standards and ethics. In Tamale, the journalists were brought together from the Upper East, Upper West, Northern, North East, Savannah, and Bono East regions. Similar training was organised in Kumasi, Ho, and Accra.

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana

Atigsi Badek schools artistes in Upper East Region on importance of branding

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Renowned entertainment pundit, Atigsi Badek has highlighted the importance of branding in the music industry.

In an exclusive interview with A1 Radio’s ‘Mr. Lexis’ on Entertainment Zone over the weekend, Mr. Badek educated artistes on how crucial it is for artistes, particularly those within the Upper East Region to brand themselves to attract the needed attention, support and market. 

When asked whether artistes in the Upper East Region are branding themselves enough to attract national attention he said, “there a few of them who I have noticed are doing their best in terms of their crafts to their outlook.”

The renowned entertainment pundit also called on artistes in the region not to feel too comfortable in their zone and continue to strive for success beyond the Upper East Region.

“Artistes in the region shouldn’t get too comfortable because they have conquered their zone but should strive to establish their brands outside of the upper east region.”

Mr. Badek expressed worry over artistes’ inability to differentiate between being versatile and switching music genres. 

“Some artistes do not get the difference between being versatile and switching music genres. You can be a rapper and feature on a reggae music without changing your identity and vice versa. An artiste should be able to maintain identity even if they are featured in a different genre.”

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Ibrahim Aziz|Ghana

Maternal deaths in Upper East Region reduced from 43 in 2021 to 27 in 2022

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The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, has admonished officials of the Ghana Health Service to generate accurate data to improve health service delivery in the region.

He said accurate data was key in the health care system to achieve accurate results for policy decisions.

Mr. Yakubu spoke at the 2022 Annual Performance Review Meeting of the Ghana Health Service in Bolgatanga on the theme: “The Role of Quality Data in Improving Service Delivery Outcomes.”

He bemoaned the unprofessional conduct and negligence on the part of some health workers, which sometimes led to the loss of lives: “Staff who engage in unprofessional conduct, when identified, should be severely sanctioned to serve as deterrents to others.”

He encouraged health professionals in the region to attach a high level of professionalism to their work and endeavour to create a good rapport between themselves and patients.

In his address, the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Emmanuel Kofi Dzotsi, enumerated some achievements and successes of the service in the year under review.

He said maternal deaths in the region had reduced from 43 in 2021 to 27 in 2022, and stillbirths had decreased from 14 percent in 2021 to 11 percent in 2022, which was below the national target of 11.5 percent in 2022.

He said the region’s record in malaria has a five-case fatality rate of 0.03 percent, which he described as the first three best in the country.

Dr. Dzotsi said there was also a decline in new HIV/AIDS infections from 1,214 in 2021 to 921 in 2022 and reminded members of the public that the disease was still in the system, adding that the tuberculosis rate increased from 47 percent in 2021 to 50.2 percent in 2022.

He noted that despite the region’s achievements, there was a shortage of health staff in the region, saying the region had only four specialists at the regional hospital and some cases that needed specialist care had to be referred to Tamale or Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals in the Northern and Ashanti Regions, respectively.

Source: Upper East Regional Coordinating Council

Bolgatanga Technical University launches 10-year strategic plan

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The Bolgatanga Technical University in the Upper East Region has launched a 10-year strategic plan aimed at improving and mastering the art of technical courses in the country.

The plan seeks to increase access, enhance quality, improve financing, and ensure effective governance and management of the university.

“These strategic priority areas support the university’s commitment to achieving excellence in its core functions of teaching/learning, knowledge dissemination, and exchange, in addition to stakeholder engagement. As a TVET institution, it is the university’s belief to not only equip students with technological skills for their future careers but also inculcate in them critical minds, concern, and respect for humankind and nature, as well as an in-depth understanding of the world,” Professor Alnaa noted at the launch of the plan.

Professor Samuel Alnaa, the Vice-chancellor of the university said, “The process of formulating the strategic plan gave us the opportunity to conduct smart analysis to determine the challenges ahead and also outline strategies, “not only to respond to the changing needs of the institution but also to ensure we drive the industrialization agenda through TVET.”

He added that “the plan is an output of extensive consultations with various stakeholders of the university, whose input has been incorporated into this document. With the collaboration of our stakeholders, the goals that we seek to accomplish will gradually transform into memorable milestones of which we can be proud by investing in the future of Bolgatanga Technical University.”

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Moses Apiah|Ghana

Upper East Regional Minister charges BTU to develop practical solutions to societal problems 

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The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, has asked technical institutions, particularly, the Bolgatanga Technical University, to channel their resources to develop practical solutions to societal problems.

According to Mr. Yakubu, the university must focus on building technical know-how to aid the Upper East Region’s quick development. 

He said, “You should not look beyond yourself, just look at the little problems in the region and how you can develop technical support to that effect. For instance, how can you help these poor farmers to stop using the hoe or perhaps improve upon the use of the hoe in the farming process.”

Mr. Yakubu made this call at the launch of the Bolgatanga Technical University’s 10-year strategic plan. 

The plan, according to the management of the university, will aid it in improving and mastering the art of technical courses in the country.  

The minister called on the university’s management to put more effort into the strategic plan to realise the aim.

Professor Alnaa Samuel, Vice Chancellor of the University, noted that the process of formulating the plan will allow the university to conduct smart analysis to determine the challenges ahead, and outline strategies, “not only to respond to the changing needs of the institution but also to ensure we drive the industrialization agenda through TVET””.

He therefore called on the public to support the university to realise its agenda.

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Moses Apiah|Ghana

NPP formed Unemployed Graduate Association just to disgrace John Mahama, NDC – Edward Asekere

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The Bongo District Communication Officer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Edward Asekere is convinced that the Unemployed Graduate Association was the brainchild of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The group was the NPP’s sinister idea to give the NDC and the former President John Dramani Mahama a bad name.

“The NPP, that group, is a hoax. You remember when John Mahama was president, they [the NPP], planned, which they are very good at, and brought people on the streets to say they were unemployed graduate groupings. These people we know. They planned [to do this],” Mr. Asekere said when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show. 

His comments were in relation to the current government’s attempts at reducing unemployment within the country. 

Mr. Asekere explained that the NABCO scheme, implemented by this government was only an extension of the previously known Youth Employment Scheme. The challenges the government faced during the challenges, was because of its inability to plan properly. 

“As a government, you have no plans on how to pay them. You would realise when they launched NABCO, they wanted to provide temporary jobs for unemployed graduates. Did they tell us the source of funding? We were not told. Was there a definite source of funding for the programme?” he quizzed.

The disruption in the disbursement of stipends, and the lack of planning from the government led to the incessant calls for payment by the trainees. 

Mr. Asekere went on to suggest that all 100,000 trainees engaged under the schemes were all members of the NPP. 

“They did it just because they wanted political capital. They just deceived the public. They throw dust into people’s eyes. I am told that they were able to list the people who laid their lives down for the party and for Akufo Addo to become president. Those were the people that were recruited. All 100,000 people sacrificed for the then candidate to become President,” he said. 

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana

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