Oil & gas reporting guide to be developed for Ghanaian journalists
Penplusbytes has organised a forum for energy experts and journalists on oil and gas in Koforidua to undertake a writeshop on the way forward in developing a media guide for Ghanaian journalists.
The guide is to help Journalists to effectively write in-depth and investigative stories on Ghana’s oil and gas revenue and resources.
This is part of efforts to continually promote excellence in journalism, a statement issued and signed by Mr. Jerry Sam, Penplusbytes Projects Director, said in Accra on Tuesday.
It said the guide would seek to educate and inform journalists about the chronology of events and the geopolitics surrounding Ghana’s oil and gas exploration, contracts and licensing, the money trail and the economics of oil and gas.
It would also guide the media to throw more light on environmental issues and the legal and regulatory framework of the oil and gas sector and provide leads and pointers for journalists in their pursuit of ensuring transparency and accountability of key stakeholders in the sector.
Speaking on the importance of the write-shop, Mr Sam noted that “this write-shop approach in developing the guide was adopted as it is useful in speeding up the production of the guide as materials and content for the guide can be revised and put into final form as quickly as possible, taking full advantage of the expertise of the various writeshop participants.”
Dr. Joe Asamoah, an expert on renewable energy and a participant, noted that “this media guide when published will serve as reference material for journalists interested in covering pertinent issues on the Ghana’s oil and gas and report effectively on the sector. It will make information available to citizens to equip them to demand accountability from the government”.
The write-shop forms part of Penplusbytes’ “Empowering the media to play an active role over oil and gas revenue and resources” project with funding from STAR Ghana.
The project seeks to improve coverage of oil and gas stories by the Ghanaian media leading to an increase in the quantity and quality of oil and gas stories in Ghana and at the same facilitate knowledge exchange between the media and CSOs on key oil and gas revenue and resource issues.
Other activities lined up apart from the media guide include orientation with journalists reporting on oil and gas.
Journalists will also benefit from a mentorship programme as well embark on educational field trips. The project will also make use of an interactive and collaborative online platform for information and knowledge exchange between CSOs and media for better advocacy in the sector.
Source: GNA