4,000 Local and foreign Journalists Accredited to cover Ghana's elections

Story: Mary Mensah
ABOUT 4,000 local and foreign journalists have been accredited to cover the presidential and parliamentary elections on Friday, December 7, 2012.
Out of the number, 60 are foreign journalists with 12 of them coming from neighbouring Nigeria.
The others are from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Finland, Benin, Togo, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya.
In an interview in Accra yesterday, the General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Bright Blewu, said the 60 foreign journalists were already in the country and more were expected before Friday.
He said the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service alone flown in 10 journalists to give extensive coverage of the election on its radio, television and online networks.
He said the BBC would also telecast two of their programmes, Focus on Africa and Newsday live from the Ghana International Press Centre on Thursday, December 6, 2012 and Friday December 7, 2012.
News agencies such as Reuters, Associated Press (AP) and Agence France Press (AFP) have detailed reporters to cover the election.
A lot of preparations have been made for a smooth coverage of the elections from the International Press Centre of the GJA.
Manual boards for the posting of the parliamentary and presidential results are being mounted.
The General Secretary indicated that the manual boards would only serve as a back-up, since the press centre would introduce an electronic system for the posting of results.
The electronic system will be hooked directly to the Electoral Commission (EC) from the GJA, and election results will be displayed electronically on the screen before posting it manually on the erected boards.
Mr Blewu said the electronic system would be faster than the use of fax machines during the 2008 general election.
He said STAR-Ghana, under its project of, “Using the Media to Enhance the Transparency and Credibility of the 2012 Elections,”  is the major sponsor of the event.
Mr Blewu said STAR-Ghana had already provided standby generators, mobile toilets and snacks, while the Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) would be providing water and drinks.
Live music will be provided for journalists who will be at the press centre to relax as the results trickle in late in the night.