As Ghana approaches the December 7 general elections, media practitioners in the country have been charged to maintain a high level of professionalism in their reportage during the exercise, to ensure that trust in the democratic system is upheld.
In offering this advice, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Ghana Communication Technology University (GCTU), Professor Robert Ebo Hinson, stated that exhibiting professionalism would help protect voter privacy during the exercise.
He offered this advice as a speaker on Thursday, November 28, in Accra, during the “Media Executives Breakfast” workshop organized by the Africa Media Bureau (AMB) for media practitioners, focusing on their ethical roles in ensuring a peaceful election.
The workshop, held at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in North Ridge, was themed “Ethical Considerations and Risks in Programming for Social Media: Responsible Election Reporting.”
Speaking on the subject of inaccurate dissemination of news in the lead-up to election day, Prof. Hinson cautioned the media professionals to be circumspect of their actions and inactions, highlighting the dangers posed by misinformation and disinformation.
“So as 2024 elections approach, next week is a do-or-die situation for this beautiful country and there is an issue around accuracy matters. Misinformation and disinformation must be avoided at all costs, we [journalists] must protect voter privacy those are also issues. ” He stated.
Professor Robert Ebo Hinson further urged the media to maintain neutrality in their reportage and avoid sensationalism, stressing their shared responsibility in attaining a peaceful and incident-free electoral process.
“When you are doing misinformation, you are unintentionally spreading false content, but when you are engaged in disinformation, you are spreading deliberately false content.
It is very important to balance free expression with creating harmful content so that we don’t create eco chambers. And then there is issue of potential misuse of sensitive user data so as not to run into ditches,” he warned.
He also reminded the participants of the necessity to take a keen interest in protecting their brand and integrity by ensuring factual reportage of their contents.
“So, here are the risks, if you go and do misinformation and disinformation, you spread foul information, you promote political propaganda and eventually, when you are found out, you create a loss of trust in media institutions, that cannot be your portion.” 
