ECOWAS Meeting on the Media Ends

A two-day regional meeting convened by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on “The Media, Conflict and Democracy” was concluded on Friday 5th in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. Participants included journalists, rights groups, members of the ECOWAS oversight body on the media and other stakeholders in the media industries of member states. According to ECOWAS officials the gathering provided the opportunity for participants to explore the possibility of establishing an ECOWAS minimum norms and standards for media practice and to promote cooperation and solidarity among media practitioners. Participants are said to have deliberated on developing norms and standards for media practitioners in order to ensure freedom of information while combating what they called hate journalism. They said the meeting is in furtherance of the objectives outlined in Article 60 of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECDP) and also in line with the need to revise and some of the provisions of the regional body’s supplementary protocol on democracy and good governance in operation.