Northern Governor, Garry Juffa has called out certain media outlets on the floor of parliament on their conduct for the dissemination of false news and called on the media fraternity to make a conscious and concerted effort to be factual in reporting. According to the Governor, this was very highly sensationalized. The story reported that four (4) girls attending the Popondetta Secondary School were abducted at the St. Franciscan Anglican Brothers Retreat in Northern. And this was according to the “police”. This information most probably based on hearsay can be an indicator for lazy journalism. The Governor said that as part of the global community, all information published on print, radio and television are carried far and wide across the world. On the 10th of this month, a certain media outlet ran a front page news item about school students in the home province of the governor, reading “School Girls Abducted.” “That’s what it states. The fact of the matter is, after investigations by my office and the administration and the police, we found that no such incident had occurred! NO GIRLS WERE ABDUCTED!! There was a very minor incident were students that were at the retreat were accosted by one man.” He mentioned that the media and those in the media fraternity are in a very serious position of power, where the media manages influence and influences public perception not just in the country but the region and worldwide. “Whilst we all appreciate the media and the very important work they do, the hard work that some of our good journalist perform they have a responsibility to report the truth, report facts.” "He (perpetrator) was chased away," said the governor. While venting his frustration reiterated that even though they had not secured factual evidence, commenced to publish the item. “Yet a foreign owned newspaper, just like our other daily, decided to run this report without carrying out it’s due diligence. And for us in Oro Province, it is quite disturbing.” The governor is now calling on the foreign daily to correct appropriately. He went further to state that this is not the first article that the newspaper has published. The Governor again called on the media to report the facts and don’t mislead the people and create negative perceptions based on lies, innuendo, rhetoric without facts. Picture courtesy: Parliament Media