GJA AWARDS TODAY, POOR PAY FOR JOURNALISTS EVERYDAY

By William Antwi Asiedu
As the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) hosts the 15th GJA Awards tonight to honour hardworking journalists, it is my wish that at least one of the guest speakers at the programme will touch on the issue of poor pay for practitioners.
This matter is so crucial that if we, as media owners, practitioners and government, do not do anything about it, the current pitiable remuneration of journalists will not only undermine the journalism profession but will also threaten our toddling democracy.
First of all, journalism practice is very risky. Practitioners are verbally and physically assaulted, killed, maimed or imprisoned for attempting to write or speak about injustice and other ills of society that tend to benefit a few but hurt the masses; so why would anybody offer low wages for such a dangerous job?
Recently, a photographer of a newspaper, who did not own a vehicle and also did not have access to an official one, closed from a late night assignment and while on his way home, he came face-to-face with two cutlass-wielding robbers on a motor bike.
The robbers violently assaulted him as they forced him to surrender his camera and money. Luckily some persons appeared on the scene and the robbers fled, leaving him with some deep cuts on his legs; by God’s Grace, his life was spared!
Ask Kwaku Baako, Kwesi Pratt, Kabral Blay-Amihere and others about life in prison and they will write books about jail life for you because they were locked up during the erstwhile Provincial National Defence Council (PNDC) regime for months and years for writing or saying things that were not melodious to the ears of the powers that were.
Three media umbrella bodies, the National Media Commission (NMC), GJA and the Private Newspapers-and Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG), have on countless occasions expressed concern about the low remuneration for journalists.
It appears that poor pay for journalists is not only a Ghanaian ‘thing.’ An AllAfrica.Com report indicated that in May 2008, the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) made a loud call for better remuneration for journalists to eliminate mediocrity in the profession.
The NGE was reported to have said that while media ownership was a business, the practice of the profession should "be left only to professionals who must be adequately remunerated to eliminate mediocrity." Here in Ghana the issue of mediocrity in the media is getting embarrassing but a discussion on that will be for another day.
Recently a Nigerian Minister of State, Professor Dora Akunyili, also described the poor remuneration for journalists as dangerous and frightening, saying that such a challenge encourages journalists to resort to blackmail and unbalanced reportage.
Speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the opening of Punch Place, the headquarters complex of Punch Nigeria Limited, publishers of The Punch newspapers, Akunyili reportedly said that the problem of poor remuneration for journalists is a big challenge to the industry and therefore called on stakeholders to think twice about this very critical issue so that the profession of journalism will not be used for destruction but rather to build.
Aside the poor pay that practitioners receive, journalists do not have the requisite tools to do their work–no vehicles, no computers, no recorders, no easy access to the Internet etc. However, some journalists have managed to acquire these tools on their own and are using them to offer public relations services to individuals, groups and companies in order to get  ‘something small’ to subsist on. And that may explain why there are so many unbalanced reportage and promotional stories in the media in Ghana.  How many journalists are doing critical analyses of issues? Very few!
There is also the point that some media owners are exploiting journalists. Many of them have therefore become ‘chasers’ of money at assignments, instead of chasing beats that can lead to solid stories that can help in the country’s development process.
As far back as December 2002, the  then President of the GJA Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, pointed out that one of the main challenges facing the development of the media was poor remuneration for journalists. She said the Association had received several complaints from journalists accusing media owners of exploitation.
"Although low remuneration can be described as a general problem, that for journalists in some establishments is pathetic," Mrs Affenyi-Dadzie said at a two-day workshop at Agona Swedru in the Central Region on the state of the media in Ghana organised by the GJA, according to a GNA report.
She said the time had come for the GJA to work towards the well-being of its members and that the GJA was going to initiate dialogue with the Association of Private Broadcasting Companies, the PRINPAG and other media owners on how best to improve the service conditions of members.
I perfectly agreed with Mrs Afenyi-Dadzie when she quoted Mahatma Gandhi of India, saying: "There can be no press freedom if journalists exist in conditions of corruption, poverty and fear."
The poverty among journalists notwithstanding, I wish to remind fellow practitioners on the occasion of the 15th GJA Awards that if you have all the qualities that make a good journalist, don't think of the money because as you have hopefully realised by now, the sky is the only limit for the right person in this field.
Being a journalist also means that you have become a responsible person capable of shaping the nation’s future. Like everything in life, journalism is also a blend of positives and negatives and it is only after one weighs the pros and cons that one should take a step towards this beautiful profession.


When it’s a media report, it causes fear, alarm and panic; when a politician speaks, there is no cause for alarm?
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has taken a swipe at the country’s judiciary and called on the Chief Justice to take immediate steps to purge the bench of what it termed ‘corrupt and politically biased members.
The NDC Chairman, Dr Kwabena Adjei, was reported to have said that “we will clean it if they don’t take steps to clean. We will clean it and let everybody everywhere blame us for interfering in the judiciary and we will take them on...there are many ways to kill a cat.”
Ei! ei! ei! Dr Adjei, in how many ways can you kill a cat? Please tell us. And when you kill it, what sauce would you use it to prepare... okro soup/stew , groundnut soup, or palm nut soup (‘abe nkwan’). Why do you cause fear and panic among cats in the country? Sir, Ghana does not need any cat and mouse game between the people and the judiciary so please when you want to criticise the judiciary do it with some circumspection. Some people in Ghana will not forgive you if you decide to kill all the cats in the system...ei, like they will report you to the gods... straight!
Superintendent Kwesi Ofori of the Police Public Relations Unit should also pay attention to those who are suggesting the Dr Adjei has caused fear, fright, dizziness, hallucination, panic and alarm.


Graphic, 'Mo Ye' Champions, 'Paaaaaaaa!'
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has announced winners of its 2009 annual awards with the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) dominating the list.
The Graphic picked five out of the 33 prestigious awards meant to honour the country’s outstanding journalists.
The Daily Graphic’s Doreen Allotey, Lucy Adoma-Yeboah, Vicky Wereko Andoh, a Columnist Graphic Sports’ Maurice Quansah and Gabriel Ahiabor photo journalist will pick individual awards while the Graphic Communications Group Limited GCGL picks an institutional award.
As for Graphic reporters and photographers, master stop; they are champions 'papa'. The GJA should institute a hall of fame and induct the GCGL as the first entrant because the journalists there are too wild! Congrats! Graphic.