GJA President, Dr Rolland Affail Monney has urged journalists to stop practising journalism in the rawest form.
His advice is in relation to unprintable insults, indecent diction, inelegant comments and unnecessary noise which make some practitioners and their outlets trend for wrong reasons.
The GJA President gave the advice at the opening of Media Capacity Enhancement Programme at Manhyia Palace on January 10, 2022.
“The experts tell us anything without humour is almost inhuman. And good humour is a mark of high intelligence. Indeed, we love programmes spiced with humour and enjoy discussions leavened with proverbs. However, this point can hardly be articulated- excessive injection of jocularity and proverbization in news in particular, and other serious programming, is problematic. Such breezy ethical breaches add tinder to the anger of media critics, and make forgiveness for our professional sins hellishly difficult,” he said.
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The GJA President urged the media to promote civility in public discourse and champion healthy debates of national issues , bearing in mind that debates are the lifeblood of liberal democracy such as ours.
“In the process, the media should tone down their partisan slant and blatant spin and tone up their independent streak and objective bent. This approach will help meet an ethical imperative of feeding the public with free, fair, balanced and comprehensive information with which they will make reasoned decisions,” he said.
He proposed that the Programme be executed in tandem with pragmatic steps to improve the working conditions of journalists, noting that Media Capacity Enhancement Programme presents an iconic turning point in journalism practice in Ghana.
The GJA President also noted that the dwindling revenue steam and swingering expenditure cuts, induced by Covid, have conspired to make an already bad situation worse, for majority of the media houses and their workers.
He said while public sector workers fight for premium salaries, the minimum wage is a luxury for a countless number of journalists who have even not be paid for months.
“The International Federation of Journalists ( IFJ) reminds us poignantly that ‘there can be no press freedom if journalists live in conditions of poverty, fear and corruption.’ The causal nexus between flip- flop poverty and below par performance in certain media circles underlines the need to address the salary issue of journalists with urgent promptitude,” he added.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
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