President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Roland Affail Monney has called on stakeholders to pay attention to the low level of remuneration of journalists across the country.

Speaking at the opening of the Media Capacity Enhancement Programme in Kumasi on Monday, Mr. Affail Monney emphasized that, the performance of journalists is tied to their wellbeing and conditions of service.

“The naked truth is that most media houses and individual journalists are too financially disabled to meet their critical training or self-development needs. 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”, Mr. Affail Monney urged.

The GJA President therefore urged all relevant stakeholders to make life more comfortable for media practitioners, in order to improve their productivity and quality of output.

Mr. Affail Monney also charged journalists to be professional in their reportage.

“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.

Furthermore, the GJA wants 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 democracies 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” Affail Monney stated.

The 2022 edition of the Media Capacity Enhancement Programme is an initiative by the Ministry of Information, designed to improve the abilities of journalists in the discharge of their duties.

Dignitiaries present at the launch included; Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Chairman of MCEP, Professor Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo, the Rector of Ghana Institute of Journalism, US Ambassador Stephanie S. Sullivan and Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei- Mensah.