By: Lucy Mawufemor Kpeglo
An Associate Professor at the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC), Prof. Etse Sikanku, has suggested three key reforms to make presidential media encounters more effective and efficient in the future.
In a discussion on GBC’s Current Agenda on President John Dramani Mahama’s recent media engagement, Prof. Sikanku highlighted the need for better regional representation, more regular media encounters, and an unbiased journalist selection process.
“I think one of the major things would be in terms of the regional and geographical representation. …some of the regions have been shortchanged in terms of getting their issues and their concerns in, and they are very, specific issues that lie, I mean, at the very survival of country, our countrymen and women in the countryside, in different places, and as we say all politics is local and so we need to make that conscious effort to make sure that we get that Regional diversity as much as possible”, he said.
Prof. Sikanku also stressed the importance of holding these press conferences often.“They should be done regularly. Preferably quarterly, or even more frequent than that,” he suggested.
He added that the process of selecting journalists to ask questions during the encounters should be made more random and transparent to ensure fairness.
“I think we would want to see a more random process of selection of the journalists to make sure that it is an objective process in terms of the selection, the selection of the journalists are as objective as much as possible to prevent any biases,” he said.
According to Prof. Sikanku, these reforms would help build public trust and ensure that the media encounters serve the people of Ghana better.
