Editors Forum, Ghana to hold symposium on media and copyright

The media landscape is growing exponentially, but growing with the number of media outlets is the problem of copyright issues, particularly plagiarism.

Plagiarism is simply put, the copying of the works of others and putting it up as one’s own, and the use of the works of others without attributing the source – and there are so many examples of these practices which have become a dent on Ghana’s fine media landscape.

To help curb this disturbing development, the Editors Forum, Ghana (EFG) is organizing a one-day symposium on the media and copyright under the theme: “The rights and responsibilities of the media under the Copyright Law,” on Thursday July 30, 2009.

The venue is the International Press Centre in Accra, at 9.30am.

The keynote speaker is the Attorney-General and the Minister of Justice, Bettey Mould-Iddrisu.

Other speakers include Mr. Bernard Bosumprah, the Copyright Administrator and Mr. Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, General Manager (Newspapers) of the Graphic Communications Group. The event will be chaired by the Chairman of the National Media Commission, Mr. Paul Adu-Gyamfi.

The EFG is a grouping of senior editorial executives and media educators working to promote high professional standards, notably through peer reviewing and it is affiliated to the Ghana Journalists Association  (GJA).

Sponsors of the event are Accra Brewery Ltd and Voltic Ghana.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi