The National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) have been challenged to purge the journalism profession from quack media practitioners who were pursuing their selfish interests. The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo who gave the task said there was an urgent need for the journalism profession to be given special attention in order to protect the honour of practitioners. He said one way of checking the fake professionals was to license journalists in order to rid the society of unscrupulous individuals, who deliberately and maliciously exhibit their ignorance, thus bringing the name of the profession into disrepute. Mr Woyongo, a trained Journalist made this known during an interaction with students of the Ghana Institute of Journalism, in Bolgatanga. He said the country's media landscape was beginning to lose its credibility due to irresponsible, biased and unethical reportage exhibited by some persons who pose as journalists without any qualification and license to operate. "Such persons have taken advantage of the country's enviable democratic dispensation to tarnish the image of organisations and individuals of high repute". Mr Woyongo reminded the students to keep to the standards and code of conduct of the profession and not follow the path of unprofessionals. He implored them to do thorough investigations into issues that were brought to them before disseminating them to the public. He said any false publication had the tendency of denting a person's image for life and charged the NMC and the GJA to check the anomaly. Mr Woyongo said the visit of the students to the region would help correct the erroneous perception that people had about northern Ghana. He said the majority of the people were wallowing in abject poverty due to illiteracy, drought and desertification, harsh prevailing weather conditions as well as ethnic and chieftaincy disputes. Mr Woyongo said though the region was regarded as the second poorest area in the country, it could boast of its rich cultural heritage and beautiful artifacts. "The region also abounds in rich mineral resources such as gold, granite, beautiful landscape and interesting tourists' attractions and most of these untapped resources when developed would help in alleviating the plight and suffering of the people and residents in the…north." Mr Woyongo said government recognised the level of poverty and the peculiar nature in the savannah regions of Ghana hence the establishment of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). He said SADA was aimed at developing strategies to address the yawning developmental gap between the north and south. Mr James Amo, on behalf of the students expressed appreciation to the Regional Minister for the warm reception and pledged on behalf of his colleagues to exercise their profession with circumspection after graduation. Source: GNA