Mr Ransford Tetteh, President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has lashed out at journalists and other media practitioners whom he says have encouraged mediocrity in the field, thereby eroding public confidence in the media. Such recklessness and sloppiness, according to him, have affected the society in a very negative way to the extent that it has caused a public outcry. He therefore urged media practitioners to give ear to the cry of the citizenry against unprofessionalism and view such outcry as a call on them to step up their commitment to good practices. Mr Ransford Tetteh was speaking during the 16th edition of the GJA Awards held on Friday at the Banquet Hall in Accra. It was on the theme: “Giving Impetus to Democracy and Development in Africa: The Role of Investigative Journalism.” This theme, the GJA president noted, was chosen in recognition of public concerns about the performance of journalists. ‘It is meant to beckon us to move away from the journalism of allegations to one of verification. The theme provides us with time to soberly reflect over our performance in order to be rejuvenated to provide better services to Ghana,” he observed. Mr Tetteh added that ‘Ghanaians deserve better’ and insisted that “it is time to prove wrong those Ghanaians expressing regrets for the endorsement of freedom and independence of the media and for freedom of speech and expression.” He stressed the need to place greater premium on investigative journalism in order to place verification at the centre of the work of journalists. “That way, we shall be able to x-ray both the good deeds and ills within our society, bring them to the attention of the populace to enable them to make informed decisions and choices,” Ransford Tetteh concluded.