CDH Insurance Company on Tuesday presented a Group Insurance Policy valued at 200 million cedis to cover the 'presidential press corps' in Accra.

The Chairman of CDH, Mr. Fred Apaloo, said the cover was given to media personnel "to enable them enhance their quota to the development of good governance, rule of law and the deepening of a democratic culture in the country". It is to protect twenty media personnel covering presidential trips on both external and internal assignments.

He said the insurance policy is a new product designed to meet specific risks faced by various professions which will pay compensation to an individual or his dependants for bodily injury or death caused solely by accidents.

Mr. Apaloo said there are plans to cover each specialised group of the media such as environmental journalists, sports journalist and financial journalists.

The benefits of the cover include: death - ?10 million, permanent disablement - ?10 million, partial disablement - ?5 million, temporary total disablement - ?100,000 per week for a maximum of 104 weeks, and medical expenses on accident - ?100 million.

Mr. Apaloo said the company would sponsor the prize for the best journalist in rural reporting for next year's GJA awards.

The Chairman of the National Media Commission, Mr. Nutifafa Kuenyehia said the conditions of service of most media practitioners are poor, yet a few years ago "when the NMC set up a committee to look into the conditions of service of media workers, there was a resistance".

He appealed to journalists and all other media practitioners not to look at the NMC with suspicion but relate to it with goodwill, which is the only way the NMC will be of benefit to the media and achieve the objective for which it was set up.

"The NMC on its own cannot improve the conditions of service of media practitioners but can collaborate with individuals and organisations such as CDH Insurance to motivate journalists to act professionally in promoting high journalistic standards," he said

He acknowledged that the presidential press corps travels a lot, but said those in the rural areas may be more at risk. He asked media houses to provide insurance cover for their journalists especially for sports writers, and those who cover conflicts and violent demonstrations.