A 2-day residential training workshop for selected members of the Private Newspapers and Online News Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) has come to a close today, Sunday, January, 25 at Ada.
The training programme, organized in partnership with the Bank of Ghana (BoG), was themed “Resetting the economy: The role of journalists, news publishers, and media owners”.
First in the series, the training saw the Association bring together 44 leading publishers, editors of various newspapers and online platforms, who were taken through intensive training covering on different topics. There was one media consultant, Charles Yao Mawusi.
Some of the topics were: Ghana’s macroeconomic framework and the role of the Central Bank, monetary policy, fiscal coordination, and debt management, responsible economic and financial reporting in an era of misinformation and handled by officials from the Bank on day one.
On day two, there was a presentation titled “Digital value system in Ghana’s economic reset understanding virtual assets, digital currency and responsible media reporting”, by Prof Hugh Aryee, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HanyPay.
The final presentation was conducted by the consultant, Mawusi on content development for advocacy/economic recovery, beyond advertisement-emerging revenue trends in media business.
The workshop was designed to build capacity of participants in terms of financial and economic issues and strengthen responsible, accurate, and development-oriented economic journalism with specific attention to Ghana’s economic recovery and transformation plan.
Closing the training, President of PRINPAG, David Sitsope Tamakloe, called on participants to apply the invaluable knowledge they acquired to their practice.
He was hopeful the training has equipped beneficiary members the needed skills and enough knowledge and understanding to report accurately on economic matter especially issues concerning the central bank and it activities.
He thanked the Bank of Ghana and it Governor Dr Johnson Asiama, for the opportunity to build the capacity of members and the generous and immense support for the successful training.
He was also grateful to all the resource persons including the Minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, who took time out of their busy schedules to be part of the training. He wished particiapnts safe trip back to their individual homes.
Earlier in his welcome address, Tamakloe described the programme as not merely a routine meeting but a direct answer to earlier engagement the leadership had with the Bank.
He was excited that days of just dialoguing has moved to action and journalists are being trained on some of the challenging topics when it comes to economic reporting.
“The themes laid out by the Bank’s leadership the necessity for accuracy, balance, and context; the understanding of complex monetary policy tools; the profound impact of financial reporting on the lives of households and businesses form the very bedrock of this workshop’s curriculum.
We are here to equip ourselves with the knowledge to better interpret the Bank’s data-driven, forward-looking decisions, to analyse its focus on stability over speed, and to report on its institutional reforms not as isolated events, but as interconnected steps towards consolidating our economic recovery”, he said.
In his capacity as president, Tamakloe said the expectation is that the participants arm themselves with the knowledge they acquire from the training to better “to better interpret the Bank’s data-driven, forward-looking decisions, to analyse its focus on stability over speed, and to report on its institutional reforms not as isolated events, but as interconnected steps towards consolidating our economic recovery.”
Coming from a very difficult but fruitful year, the media he pointed out is deemed to have played it critical role during the period stressing it contribution is well recognized. As the Bank works to consolidate the gains made and stay disciplined, the role of the media is most needed to stay the course.
“As we look to 2026, a year dedicated to “consolidation and discipline” our role becomes even more critical. The stability achieved must be explained, protected, and nurtured by a media corps that is informed, responsible, and cognisant of its shared national responsibility”.
He urged colleagues to pay special attention during the sessions, and urged them to ask the most difficult questions, and demand for clarifications. He stressed the BoG’s commitment to carry the media along as it rolls out it policies and programmes in the year ahead.
Executive Secretary of the Association, Jeorge Wilson in his brief address outlined what to expect in the various sessions.
By Gifty Boateng