Bolgatanga, April 12, GNA - Mr. Boniface Gambila, Upper East Regional Minister, has urged the Media in the region to refrain from portraying the area as being hopelessly poor, but to help redirect the thinking and creative capabilities of the people into wealth creation. Media practitioners should also do more rural reporting to highlight the developmental progress and challenges in the rural communities so that Government would know which areas required intervention.

Mr. Gambila made these remarks at a get-together organised by the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) on Wednesday evening for the Press and Security agencies in the Region.

The Minister noted that Government needed to know how its policies such as education, health, infrastructural development, modernisation of agriculture and the Capitation Grant, which were geared towards rural development, were affecting the lives of the people.

He commended the media in the region for the effective and invaluable services they continued to render in spite of the harsh conditions under which they worked. He also urged closer teamwork on the part of the security agencies, the media and the RCC for the sustenance of peace and development.

Mr Mohammed Nurudeen Issahaq, Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), indicated that Government-Media relations had seen a remarkable improvement since 1992, and said the GJA was doing everything possible to ensure that journalists played the complementary role expected of them in the national development effort.

The Chairman noted that the mushrooming of media outlets in the region and the nation could be counted as a blessing to the ongoing democratic dispensation only if media practitioners put the welfare of society above all other considerations.

He appealed to Journalists to discharge their duties with a high sense of professionalism and to refrain from doing anything that would mar the image of the profession.

Mr. Issahaq expressed appreciation to the Regional Coordinating Council for providing means of transport most of the time, which enabled journalists to go about their routine news coverage. He, however, hoped that steps would be taken to equip Media houses in the Region with vehicles to enable them to perform their duties effectively. Responding, the Regional Minister said he would impress upon the head offices of the various Media houses to ensure that they procured vehicles and other essential work tools for their offices in the region to enhance efficiency.

The Deputy Regional Minister, Alhaji Awudu Yirimeah, entreated Journalists to always cross-check their facts before publication. He noted that in some instances Journalists got themselves into trouble by failing to cross-check their facts before publication.

The Regional Police Commander, Mr. Ofosu-Mensah Gyeabour, gave the assurance that the police and other security agencies would continue to collaborate with the media in the fight against crime and in the area of public education. He urged media practitioners to feel free to approach the police for information whenever the need arose.