Koforidua, Aug. 25, GNA - A lecturer at the School of Communications Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Dr Anthony Bonnah Koomson has asked Journalists to be neutral in their reportage on issues about Election 2004.

He stressed on the need for fair and balance reportage to let the electorate make informed choices.

Dr Bonnah Koomson was speaking in Koforidua on Tuesday, on: Guidelines on Political Reporting, at a two-day seminar for Journalists drawn from the Eastern and Volta Regions. He asked Journalists to be voter-focused and avoid the invasion of people's privacy.

Dr Bonnah Koomson reminded Media Practitioners about the risk of being sued for civil libel and defamation, when they reported especially on cases perceived to be of public interest. On the conduct of opinion polls, he impressed on Journalists to give a cross-section of people equal chance of representation in the random sampling of views.

The Assistant General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Affail Monney, urged Journalists to distance themselves from the negative practices in the political arena and rather focus on issues that would directly improve the well being of the people.