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The Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mr. Mahama Ayariga, has urged journalists to be circumspect in disseminating information to the general public. Mr Ayariga said there was the need for information to be handled well because it had ramifications for national development. Mr Ayariga made the call when he received an eight-member Ethiopian delegation in his office in Accra. The delegation is in the country to study the Ghanaian way of information dissemination, communication and the efforts being made by the government to strengthen the media. Media�s role in development Mr Ayariga said the media in Ghana had played a significant role in the pre and post-colonial days of the country. He said the government did not have control over the media but collaborated with them to ensure that the needed information was given to the public at the right time. Mr Ayariga conceded that the ministry had encountered difficulty in dealing with negative or false information about the government. Social media He said Ghanaians were now adept in the use of the social media because of the extensive penetration of the Internet in the country. He said many Ghanaians possessed either one or two mobile phones and were on social media where they were able to Tweet, WhatsApp or Facebook. That, he said, had created a platform for information to be shared within seconds and added that the government had created the opportunity for service providers in the ICT sector to improve internet service. He urged the delegation to also take advantage of the Ghanaian hospitality to learn the culture, traditions and the freedom of the media. Mr Hadush Kassu, Director of Media Research and Development of Ethiopia, thanked Mr Ayariga for what he described as a warm reception and the opportunity to study the Ghanaian media landscape and also share the Ethiopian experience.