The Director-General of the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), Divine Selase Agbeti, has urged media organisations to make cybersecurity, accurate reporting and responsible journalism integral parts of their editorial culture to safeguard Ghana’s national security and information environment.
He said journalists had a critical role to play in protecting the public from misinformation, particularly during security incidents, communal conflicts and public emergencies.
Mr Agbeti made the call in Accra at the closing of a two-day residential training workshop organised for members of the Private Newspapers and Online News Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG).
He urged journalists to verify information before amplifying it, stressing that while speed was important in journalism, accuracy was more critical.
“Speed matters in journalism, but accuracy matters more,” he said, urging media practitioners to independently verify security-related information, geolocate content where possible and cross-check reports with credible official and community sources.
He also cautioned journalists against publishing sensitive operational information that could endanger lives or assist criminals and hostile actors. Such information, he said, could include tactical positions, identities of protected persons and sensitive investigative details.
Mr Agbeti further called on media houses to build cyber-resilient newsrooms by training staff, securing official accounts, using strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, maintaining secure backups and establishing clear procedures for responding to cyber incidents.
He urged journalists to correct misinformation quickly and visibly, noting that corrections should receive sufficient prominence to reach audiences who had been exposed to the original error.
“Responsible journalism is demonstrated not by never making a mistake, but by responding transparently when one occurs,” he said.
The CSA Director-General also called for stronger engagement between PRINPAG and security institutions through regular briefings, awareness sessions and practical exchanges.
“Trust is built before a crisis, not during one,” he said.
Mr Agbeti stressed that closer cooperation between the media and security agencies should not compromise editorial independence, legitimate criticism or accountability.
He said a professional and independent press strengthened national security by exposing wrongdoing, countering falsehoods, informing citizens and holding institutions accountable.
He warned that the digital environment had created new opportunities for cybercriminals and hostile actors to exploit public trust through impersonation, compromised accounts, manipulated images, synthetic audio and coordinated disinformation.
“Journalists and newsrooms are both targets and potential force multipliers,” he said, adding that a compromised journalist’s account could be used to exploit not only sensitive data but also the credibility and audience of the affected journalist.
Mr Agbeti proposed that PRINPAG develop a newsroom protocol for national security and cyber incident reporting. The protocol, he said, should provide standards for verification, source protection, handling of sensitive information, corrections and engagement with relevant authorities while preserving editorial independence.
He also urged security institutions to improve their communication with the media, saying journalists could not report responsibly when credible information was unnecessarily delayed or when official communication was inconsistent.
He called for a renewed partnership in which security institutions engage the media with openness and respect while journalists exercise their freedom with professionalism and responsibility.
“The workshop may be closing, but the partnership it has strengthened must now begin its most important phase: implementation,” Mr Agbeti said.
He reaffirmed the CSA’s readiness to collaborate with PRINPAG and the wider media community to build safer newsrooms, better-informed citizens and a secure and resilient digital Ghana.