In primary school, the first ritual we went through every morning was respond to our names growled by the class teacher with a stern look. It was called marking the Register.

Because the classroom was made up of neatly arranged rough pieces of rock under a shea nut tree with a piece of plywood which passed for our chalkboard leaning on it, the Register was carried by one student nominated by the teacher from his house to school every day of the week.

It was a matter of pride for him or her that got to carry the register to and from school. And so was it a matter of great pride Friday when the Register was marked at Multimedia Group’s Blue Building on the Faanofaa Street, Kokomlemle, Accra.

This time, it was given a rather fanciful name – Roll call. But unlike in primary school where the names were growled by stern-looking teachers, on Friday, it was the venerable, soft-spoken, well-dressed Angelo Dadzie, Chief HR Manager at Multimedia, who called out the names through Francis Ngula.

And it was not every name that was called. On the roll were names of the men and women who through their work last year brought additional honour and dignity to the Group. These people won awards both locally and internationally for their work last year.  They were the night-watchman’s son, Manasseh Azure Awuni, who won the Best in Anti-Corruption Reporting award at the recent Ghana Journalists’ Association awards; the jovial bully with a rather soft enchanting voice, Seth Kwame Boateng, whose radio documentary Childlessness, won GJA award for Best Radio Feature; the skinny model with a pleasant, authoritative voice, Beatrice Adu, who was adjudged Best in Health Report at the GJA Awards; the pretty Gifty Andoh Appiah, who won a joint award as Best in Environment, Sanitation and Hygiene Reporting; Adelaide Arthur whose story on Post-Harvest Losses placed 1^st Runner-Up in the video documentary and television broadcast category of the NEPAD/CAADP Journalist of the Year Award in Durban, South Africa; Africa’s No. 1 Disc Jockey, DJ Black, and last but not least, the unassuming but famous Kwamena Idun of Adom FM.

In turns they received neatly sealed envelopes while the bulging eyes of the rest of us watched, and tired hands clapped in admiration.

There was a compensation for us though; we had lunch. That doesn’t always come. But that was not all there was. Managing editors of Joy News, radio and television, Elvis Kwashie and Emma Morison respectively, took turns to address the journalists. 

First was Elvis Kwashie who delivered another emotional and passionate presentation on media ethics and conduct of the Group’s journalists. But the man needed help; those of us at the back could hear the piercing voice but we couldn’t see the man.

If ever a commission is set up to investigate the circumstances under which the GJA spectacularly failed to recognize the work done by the fearless Manasseh on GYEEDA did not deserve any recognition, I will appear before it. And I will recommend that next time Mr. Kwashie is making a presentation to the entire team, Angelo and the HR department must cause a very nice platform, like the one that was made for one politician at an IEA debate, to be made for him. At least people like Joseph Opoku Gakpo or Dzifa Bampoh can see him from the back. When I appear I will try never to shed any tears but if I do, I won’t be the first to cry at a commission hearing. The precedence has been set by you know who!

So Elvis told all to remember that journalism is a powerful tool that has to be used for the general good of the society and not to further the selfish and egoistic pleasures of the journalist.

“You are not the alpha and the omega because you have a microphone,” he stressed. 

Journalists must do their work fearless but with respect and deference to others, he insisted.  

Elvis Kwashie said while salacious and scandalous stories about politicians may be appealing, they do little for the ordinary citizens who are concerned about health, education, economic well-being of their families and so on.

These people and their everyday struggles are what should guide you when you step out of the office with a recorder or sit in the studio behind the microphone, he said. For a moment, it felt this was a journalism lecture by a guest lecturer or a visiting professor.

He warned reporters to desist from any aggressive behavior because fighting news sources is counter-productive.

He praised journalists of the Group for their outstanding performance but like Oliver Twist, asked for more.

Without a gun, Elvis still robbed Ms Morrison of anything to say; at least so she said.

The Joy News (TV) Managing Editor counseled the reporters to stay out of danger and be sensitive to others while performing their duties. She assured every reporter that the editors and managers of the Group will always stand by them but stressed that will only be when the truth and the law are on their side.

For those of us who didn’t receive the envelopes, we were content with the assurances and the lunch because you don’t get a free lunch every day. It probably is the reason some people gorged themselves on waakye!