Dodowa (G/A), May 24, GNA- Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker of Parliament at the weekend advised journalists to maintain the highest standard of journalism in their reportage.

A well-balanced, fair, factual and accurate reportage without any derogatory words is the key to national development, he said. Mr Ala Adjetey was speaking at the opening of a two-day workshop on Parliamentary Reporting at Dodowa.

The workshop organised by the Office of Parliament and attended by 40 journalists including Parliamentary Press Corps is on theme: "Equipping the Parliamentary Reporter for Effective Parliamentary Reportage".

He said: "Good communication provides proper feed-back that facilitate the parliamentary process."

Mr Ala Adjetey stressed that effective media reporting facilitates a healthy growth of democracy, adding that tolerance and patient are necessary prerequisites for democracy.

The Speaker urged journalists to desist from the temptation of coming out first with a publication and only to ascertain the truth later.

Mr. Edwin Arthur, Dean of the Parliamentary Press Corps said parliamentary reportage should be given a professional touch in a manner that would reflect the aspirations of all parties represented in Parliament.

He stated that currently the Press Corps is operating under numerous constraints and appealed to the Speaker to provide the Press Corps with offices, secretarial facilities such as computers, fax machines and logistics to help them improve their work in Parliament.

Mr. Arthur was grateful that Parliament organised the workshop to train and improve the skills of journalists to report authoritatively on proceedings of the House.

He called on the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to institute an award scheme for the best Parliamentary Reporting during the annual awards night.

Mr. Jones Kugblenu, Director of Public Affairs of Parliament asked journalists to be circumspect in their reportage.

He urged journalists to provide fair and accurate coverage of Parliament as the duly elected voices of the people, adding that journalists must pay attention to views expressed by all members of the House.

Some of the topics treated were the role of the parliamentary reporter as an advocate of Parliament, the differences between motions and bills and their process and the relevance of the Standing Orders in parliamentary proceedings.