Cape Coast, April 11, GNA – The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Roland Affail Monney has challenged the media to promote global peace through peace journalism.
He said as catalysts of peace, the time had come for the media to accord topmost priority to conflict solution journalism in the discharge of their professional responsibilities.
He was speaking at the fourth public lecture and the launch of a five-year action plan by the Centre of Awareness Global Peace Mission (ACOA-GPM) to “bring peace to the world” in Cape Coast.
The lecture was on the theme: “Targeting leadership across the globe to achieve global peace” and assembled hundreds of people, including diplomats, traditional leaders, professors in the academia, students, religious and political leaders and security services.
Mr Monney’s call comes in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, which has claimed hundreds of lives, displaced thousands and destroyed properties worth millions.
“We want to see the media tilt their stories, shape their programmes and tailor their discussions more and more towards tractable, non- violent ways.
“Furthermore, media practitioners should saturate all online and offline platforms with peace, peace, peace,” Mr Monney stressed.
He said the admonition was not intended to gag journalists from being objective on issues of critical concern, but to carry out duties cautiously in the interest of peace.
“As you interrogate issues, expose dark spots and hold duty bearers to account, you should not imperil the peace nor endanger our stability”, he emphasised.
The GJA President, further called on world leaders to take practical steps towards ending the Russia-Ukraine war, adding that it was not enough to bemoan the awful spectacle in Ukraine and other places of conflict.
He also tasked politicians and their supporters to be guided by the importance of peace in national development, saying “peace building is the responsibility of all.”
Mr Monney commended the President General of COA-GPM, Professor Samuel Ato Duncan, for his resolve and efforts at ensuring that the world lived together peacefully.
“In the face of the seemingly impossible task, stands a man with divinely ordained wisdom and boundless strength, surfing a wave of optimism, which is predicated on the belief that with God all things are possible.
“Professor Duncan deserves the support of all, especially the media, to nourish his peace efforts and forge a semblance of sanity in the world,” he added.
Prof Duncan, during the launch, said the vision of the Centre was to see a peaceful world free of all forms of injustice and terrorism.
He rallied leaders to join the peace crusade and create an enabling environment for the world to live in peace.
GNA