Journalists won't compromise role

Page 3: May 24, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Ransford Tetteh, has said journalists will not compromise their watchdog role in society, although the association receives support from institutions for its annual awards.
He said media houses and award winners did not directly solicit for support for the awards and were, therefore, “not obliged to compromise their critical role just for the sake of winning awards”.
Mr Tetteh said this when he inaugurated the 2007 GJA Awards and Planning committees, as well as the Group of Eminent Persons to revise the Guidelines on Elections Coverage, in Accra yesterday.
“The GJA, as the umbrella body, harnesses the goodwill and support of media development partners and friends. All of them, as stakeholders in a qualitative media, have a legitimate right to contribute towards raising journalistic standards by contributing to the awards and, as an association, we support that,” he said.
Mr Tetteh said every business concern must be supportive of promoting media excellence because a free society engendered economic growth.
On the awards, he said the GJA received 208 entries, three more than last year’s entries, for the various categories.
Category One, he said, covered separate awards for news reporting and features for radio, television and the print media, while Category Two, which had only one award for both the print and the electronic media, included investigative reporting, photojournalism, sports, arts/entertainment/domestic tourism, finance/economics, environment, health and road safety, rural reporting, parliamentary and political reporting and crime and court reporting.
He said Category Three, which was meant for the print media only, would be for the best columnist, while Category Four, which was reserved for media houses, would cover best talkshow, radio and television, best layout and designed newspaper, human rights and peace-building.
“For all the five awards under Category Four and the Journalist of the Year, nominations by the public are to be considered alongside the nominations of the Awards Committee. For those awards, GJA members and the general public were invited to nominate candidates, giving reasons for their nominations in not less than 120 words,” he added.
Mr Tetteh said the task of the Planning Committee was to plan and organise the event itself and also seek prizes for the award winners.
On the revision of the Guidelines on Election Coverage, he said the existing guidelines had been drawn up in 1996 with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
He said although the Ghanaian media had performed creditably in the coverage of elections since the guidelines were drawn, “there had been some challenges along the way and it is only fair to address them through their revision”.
Mr Tetteh said the revision would be done taking cognisance of the coverage of previous elections and the current situation to make the media more versatile, fair and reliable in their coverage.
He said the revision had also been necessitated by the rapid growth of the Ghanaian media landscape, with about 124 radio stations, four free-on-air television stations and more than 300 newspapers and publications throughout the country, with three cable/subscription television stations in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi.
He said the influence of the broadcast media, particularly radio, during elections required that the guidelines be divided into three parts, namely, General, Electronic and Print, to allow for specific issues peculiar to or concerning each type of medium to be addressed in a comprehensive manner.
According to Mr Tetteh, the draft of the guidelines was expected to be ready by the end of June 2008 to be reviewed and adopted by editors at a workshop.
“The updated Guidelines on Election Coverage will be published, launched and distributed to journalists throughout the country,” he said, adding that “the document will be the main resource material for workshops on election coverage”.
Members of the Awards Committee are Mr Berifi Apenteng, a media consultant; Dr Doris Yaa Dartey, a communications consultant and educator; Mr George Sarpong, the Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission; Mr Gilbert Tietaah, lecturer, School of Communication Studies; Mr Emmanuel Vorgbe, a freelance broadcast journalist; Mr Francis Kokutse, Associated Press/Dow Jones correspondent; Ms Adwoa Asiedu, Features Editor, Ghanaian Times; Mr Harry Mouzalas, a veteran news agency journalist; Mr Sammy Aduagyei, a veteran sports journalist; Mr Robert Johnson, a freelance photographer and cinematographer, and Mr Cyril Acolatse, a veteran broadcast journalist.
The seven-member Planning Committee, which is chaired by Mr Tetteh, includes Mr Kwame Sefa-Kayi of Peace FM; Mrs Marian Kyei of KAB Governance Consult; Mr Mathias Tibu of the Ghana Institute of Journalism; Ms Janet Carboo, Head of Public Relations, TV3; Ms Doris Kuwornu, Head of Corporate Affairs, GBC, and Ms Gifty Anti of GTV.
The Group of Eminent Persons to revise the Guidelines on Election Coverage is made up of Dr Bonnah Koomson, lecturer, School of Communication Studies; Dr Audrey Gadzekpo, the acting Director, School of Communication Studies; Mr Kweku Rockson, the acting Rector, Ghana Institute of Journalism and member of the NMC; Mr Isaac Fritz Andoh, the Editor of the Standard and member of the NMC; Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, Editor of the Ghanaian Times and Chairperson of the Editors Forum; Mr Cyril Acolatse, a veteran broadcast journalist, and Mr Kofi Arhin, Director of Elections, Electoral Commission.