GJA urged to establish mid-career training centre

Professor Kwame Karikari, Communications Lecturer and Media Freedom Advocate, has called on the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to consider establishing a mid-career training centre for practising professionals to help promote professional standards in the future.He said the Institute would work to upgrade the knowledge and skills of middle to upper-level editorial management personnel.Prof Karikari, delivering a lecture in Ho as part of the 75th GJA Anniversary Public Lecture series, noted that the Institute would also organise periodic sessions for the exchange of experiences, ideas and seminars for the introduction of new ideas, skills and technologies.He said the GJA's work in policy advocacy appeared rather ad-hoc and spontaneous, adding that it tended to be reactive to events and developments which needed to be improved.Prof Karikari said it could be improved by setting up units or departments headed or run by persons with appropriate professional' backgrounds and capacities to promote its i ntervention or participation in policy decision-making.He said the Association also needed to strengthen the structures of the organisation, adding that from the outside, the GJA's structures for promoting the welfare and professional interest of members of the profession appeared 'non-existent or at best, weak.'Prof Karikari said the Association's day-to-day administration of people and things had been devoid of professional personnel for a considerable time.He said considering how rapidly and complex media were developing, GJA might consider establishing structures or units staffed by full-time professionals who led programmes for the provision of a variety of services to members, including legal, welfare, labour rights, improvement in wage skills and professional counselling.Prof Karikari called on the GJA to strengthen its activities and be more vocal in protecting members' rights and security including finding the means to promote legal defence of members facing the law for defensible acts.He s aid the Association could seek cooperation with existing press freedom advocacy organisations with the expertise and experience such as the Media Foundation for West Africa.The lecture was on the theme: '75 Years of Excellence in Journalism: Shaping the Future'.Dr Akofa Segbefia, a Media Consultant, implored every journalist to register as a member of the GJA, adding that 'let no journalist see themselves as bigger than our professional body'.He said journalists must be bold to speak truth to power, be bold and fearless in the pursuit of truth, equity and justice in the discharge of their professional duty.'But I caution that being bold and fearless should not make the journalist reckless. First be sure that what you want to put out there is newsworthy, true and in the public interest.'Dr Segbefia said in an election year, it was likely that politicians would want to use journalists to prosecute their political agenda, but journalists must preserve their integrity and image by always being professio nal.He said he supported calls for a review of the composition of the National Media Commission to make it more responsive to the needs of the time.Dr Segbefia noted that the dynamics of the media space had changed substantially and that called for the Commission to work full time in addressing the expanding media focus to achieve optimal results.He advised young compatriots desirous of becoming journalists to imbibe the maxim that 'you can only give what you have'.Source: Ghana News Agency