Former President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, has commended the media in Ghana for serving the nation well.”It has played significant role in holding successive governments accountable”, the Diplomat said at the first of a series of public lectures to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the GJA in Kumasi.
The theme was: “75 years of Excellence in Journalism: Honouring the past and embracing the present”. Ambassador Blay-Amihere noted that the media has made significant contributions and that it must be proud of its impact on the development of Ghana.
He, however, said that the state of the new media landscape, characterised by too many media houses, is a challenge to the GJA.
The Diplomat, therefore, urged the GJA and media Houses to remain committed to promoting ethical and responsible journalism, in the face of new media models because traditional journalism is the only beacon of hope for Ghana.
He also urged the GJA to maintain its independence to avoid manipulation by the industry players.
The Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Prof. Amin Alhassan observed that journalism is at the cross roads as the model which defined journalism pra tice the past 75 years is under siege.
According to him, the practice is faced with proliferation of media houses with its attendant “jokers” who pretend to practice journalism.
The GBC Director-General noted that the future of journalism is at stake and needs to be protected from collapse.
He, therefore, called on the GJA to sensitise practitioners to avert ill practices of non practitioners who parade themselves as professionals.
Prof. Alhassan suggested that the GJA should liase with training institutions to train the right calibre of practitioners to sustain the profession.
The Director-General called on journalists to acquire skill sets needed for modern day journalism practice in this digital era Nd further called on journalism schools to ensure that students are trained and equipped with skill sets to prepare them for the job market.
The Provost of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. Charles O. Marfo, inferred to the saying by former US President Thomas Jefferson that, he would prefer newspapers without government to a government without newspapers, to stress the importance of journalism in nation building and urged the GJA to find everything possible and reasonable to sustain the ideals of journalism in Ghana.
Dr. (Mrs) Victoria O. Faleke, the Head of Department of Language and Communication Science, KNUST, appealed to the GJA to establish a concise pedagogical studio for students to acquaint themselves with the practice of journalism.
Ms. Linda Asante Adjei, the GJA Vice chair, indicated that holding the lecture at KNUST is a major collaboration that seeks to strengthen and deepen their relations.
The Chief of Apemanim, Nana Fobi Kropa III, also known as Prof. Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh, presided over the GJA public lectures in Kumasi.
