President John Mahama has cautioned the media to be fair, accurate and balanced in their reportage, especially when such reports have the potential of hurting the hard earned reputation of others.

The President said this in an interview with the press corps in Paris, where he is attending a conference on peace and security organized under the aegis of the Franco-African Summit.

Reacting to reports by the Multimedia Broadcasting Group on issues relating to Engineers and Planners and Merchant Bank, Mr. Mahama said, “as the oldest and largest privately owned network in Ghana, Multimedia has a responsibility to strive for accuracy and fairness in its work.”

He added that the company has the potential to be a model of media excellence on the Ghanaian media landscape if it pushes for high professional standards.

Asked about the half apology issued by the company for its wrong reports about him, President Mahama said it is time to put the matter behind us.

He asked government communicators and the Ministry of Information to also put the matter behind them and accept the partial apology from the media house. “We can’t afford to get too emotional.

"We have a challenging job and it is easy in some circumstances to lose one’s cool,” the President noted.

The president encouraged his communications team to continue to engage positively the media including the Multimedia Group to put across information on government’s programmes and policies.