The media has been urged to be circumspect in reporting cases of disease outbreaks since negative reportage can affect the efficient management of such situations. Dr Mark Hansen, deputy director of Vertinary Services Division (VSD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), who made the observation, said the poultry industry lost about 300 million dollars revenue as a result of bad reportage when the avian flu broke out in Ghana. He observed that bad reportage had collapsed many poultry industries in the country and that a greater number of them had not been revived since 2007, adding that if the right information had been sent out those poultry farms could have been saved. Dr Mark Hansen, who was speaking at a seminar on influenza awareness creation for media practitioners in the Eastern Region at Koforidua, said because of the panic often created in the minds of the public, it was very important that the media got the right information before going public. According to him, both the bird flu and swine flu had standard management procedures that the Ministries of Health and Agriculture followed in handling those situations to allay the fears of the public. He said the two ministries, with support from the European Union (EU) had been able to control the two outbreaks and very soon Ghana could be declared an infection-free zone. He assured the pubic that there was no cause for alarm but urged people to keep to sound hygienic practices. Mr George Kpor, Communications Manager of MOFA, said damage caused by bad reportage was very difficult to reverse since the greater harm might have been done already, stressing the need for accurate and factual reports by the media. He cited an instance of the avian flu where Ministers of State had to be put on national television eating chicken to ally the fears of the public when the poultry industry was collapsing. Mr Kpor said in those situations, the partnership between the media and the responsible ministries and agencies was imperative so that information and communication could be managed and packaged well such that no harm would be caused. He, therefore, appealed to the media to contact technical officers in their districts on those issues for the right information to be published. Source: GNA