Ivorian journalists meeting on Friday in Accra to stimulate discussion on the need for media pluralism to resolve the post-electoral conflict in their country Cote d\u2019Ivoire stirred up more controversy, further showing the deep divide in the country\u2019s media.
\nThe two-day meeting called by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), a regional media rights body and the International Media Support (IMS), a Danish-based NGO, is aimed at providing a platform for the Ivorian media practitioners to dialogue to seek solutions to the post-election stalemate. Cote d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s civil society has condemned the monopoly of the public media for propaganda by loyalists of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, calling for an end to the dissemination of hate messages through the public media.
\nThe journalists at a point in the meeting traded words, some of which bordered on threats, forcing the organisers to plead with them to exhibit maturity to arrive at a consensus that would bring peace.
\nSome of the journalists severely criticised the unbalanced and partial treatment of information in the public media, condemning the clampdown on some newspapers and journalists affiliated to Alassane Ouattara by security agents. \u201cThe media should reflect the professionalism in this profession,\u201d said one journalist. \u201cWe should be careful not to incite\u2026if we get trapped in this, posterity will judge us.\u201d \u201cLet us not belabour the point that there is the need for the foreign media in Cote d\u2019Ivoire to balance issues because of the hostile media environment in our country,\u201d said another journalist.
\n\u201cThe state control of the public media should cease. There should be more public control of the media to give the state-media the kind of protection it needs,\u201d he said. Professor Kwame Karikari, Executive Director of the MFWA, expressed the hope that after the meeting the media practitioners would have seen the need for them to use their profession to prevent conflict in that country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ivorian journalists meeting on Friday in Accra to stimulate discussion on the need for media pluralism to resolve the post-electoral conflict in their country Cote d\u2019Ivoire stirred up more controversy, further showing the deep divide in the country\u2019s media. The two-day meeting called by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), a regional media rights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n