Mr Ransford Tetteh, President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), on Saturday described the GJA Code of Ethics as the “soul of journalism” and charged media practitioners to respect it.
“We believe ethics are as important to professionals as well as the non-professionals in civil society, who are engaged in citizen journalism, by way of the Internet. Whether we are disseminating information through websites, blogging and by other ICT means, we must do well to respect the Code,” he said.
Mr Tetteh said this in Ho at the re-launch of the GJA Code of Ethics and the launch of findings of the Ghana Media Standards Improvement Project (GMSIP) survey on rural radio stations in the Country.
Mr Tetteh said respect for the Code of Ethics would help to build conducive environment for the practice of the journalism and give the practitioner the right conscience to discharge his or her duties in a very professional manner.
He said a responsible media and press freedom remained the two major priorities of the Association and hoped the re-launch of the Code of Ethics would remind media practitioners to recommit themselves to the values and ideals of the profession.
Mr Tetteh said the Code, which was adopted by the National Council of the GJA in Sunyani on July 1994, still held the solution to most of the problems plaguing the media such as unprofessionalism and incivility.
“As the fourth estate of the realm, the public expects the media to play their watchdog role. They should do this with a high sense of responsibility without infringing on the rights of individuals and the society in general,” he said.
On the debate over the latest investigative report by Anas Aremeyaw Anas concerning corruption within some operations of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr Tetteh said the GJA did not think it was unusual for institutions, corporate organizations or government to engage mainstream media by way of sponsorship.
He explained that renowned international media houses in some developed democracies did programmes in collaboration with institutions, both governmental and non-governmental.
Mr Tetteh said cardinal principles, however, needed to be observed in such sponsorships such that sponsorship arrangements did not interfere with the independence of the journalist or media house.
He said it was also important that such sponsorships were made public in line with the right of the public to know.
Mr Tetteh said though Anas Aremeyaw Anas might have crossed the ethical lines, the Association would encourage practitioners to expose corruption in the country if that would stop the stealing of public resources for selfish gains.
He advocated the establishment of a “Media Development Fund” under the auspices of the National Media Commission to support media development in the country.
Mr Tetteh commended the GMSIP for helping to improve media standards in the country and advised media practitioners to “apply their mind to the Code of Ethics religiously”.
Dr Margaret Ivy Amoakohene, Director, School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana Legon, who launched the GMSIP survey report, said the findings indicated that only 35.9 per cent of 64 rural radio station managers were university graduates.
She said the findings also showed that many workers at rural radio stations were receiving very low salaries with some taking as low as 20 Ghana cedis a month.
Dr Amoakohene said highest paid workers at rural radio stations were taking around GH¢500 with majority between GH¢50 and GH¢100.
She said her team observed that though many radio stations had been established in the last ten years, they were not evenly spread across the country and that as some district capitals had more than one, others had none.
Dr Amoakohene, therefore, underscored the need to re-examine the concentration of radio stations to determine how it contributed to undermine pluralism.
Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, GMSIP Coordinator, said the initiative was to strengthen the Ghanaian media and that the re-launching of the GJA Code of Ethics had become necessary following its re-design into a poster form.