Undoubtedly, the media is an institution that should be active and not passive. Oscar Wilde once said “The public has an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Journalism conscious of this and having a trades man habit, supplies their demand.” So an essential virtue of the media is it being vocal and not silent. The media has the noble mandate of safeguarding the interest of society.
Again, the media is a tool for education, emancipation, and mobilization as well as a means of giving the masses facts and ideas for proper governance. What’s more, it has the utmost duty of championing the cause of the average person from poverty, disease and opposing any form of exploitation, aggression and making known to the public the validity or the otherwise of government policies, to mention just a few.
The Ghanaian media has strived tremendously in performing these functions since colonial days up to the current democratic dispensation. Hitherto, you have several journalists working, who are not paid. A report which was sponsored by the Ghana Trade Union Congress (TUC) confirmed that a sizeable number of the country’s journalists earn less than the national minimum wage of $2 a day.
This is a breakdown of salaries received by journalists in mainly the state media as reported by the Ghana News Agency last year:
“A journalist with a diploma certificate receives between GHc200 and GHc350. A reporter at GNA receives as gross salary, an amount between GHc230 and GHc250, whiles a journalist with the same qualification at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) receives between GHc300 and GHc330.
At the Ghanaian Times, a journalist with diploma receives GHc350-420, whiles his colleague at the Graphic Communication's Group Limited (GCGL), is paid between GHc400 and GHc700. The situation is more pathetic in most private media houses as some journalists receive less than GHc100 while others receive no salary at all but are only provided with accreditation to enable them cover events”.
If journalists live in such impoverish conditions, how then do we expect them to carry out their duties effectively. In spite of this, journalists in this country are still soldiering on for our dear nation. It is indubitable that the media was a major partner in the struggle for independence and the current democratic dispensation.
Some media critics would justify the current unacceptable working conditions of journalists against the unprofessional conduct of some journalists. There is an old adage in Akan that says “There is a Mensah in every house,” literally, you find a person with a questionable character in every house. But let me ask, which profession is flawless in the world? Some patients die in hospitals due a doctor’s ineptitude, a student might fail his exams due to his teacher’s incompetence, a plaintiff or a defendant might lose a case in court due to a judge’s bias or a lawyer’s ineffectiveness.
All these unfortunate incidents occur mostly due to someone’s inefficiency.
So when some journalists conduct themselves in an unprofessional manner, it should not be generalized or used as a yardstick for treating journalists in general. Can you imagine what will happen, when we wake up one day, only to realize that journalists are on strike? There will be no newspapers to read, no radio station to listen to, no TV station to watch, and indeed no online news sites. I hope by now, you know what will happen. There will be a total “Black Out,” and that “Black Out” will be immense and cannot be compared to the unavoidable conspicuous rate at which ECG cuts off power in this country.
I am not a prophet of doom, but that “Black Out,” would be tremendous than a nationwide black out by ECG and VRA.
The sad aspect of the Ghanaian journalist’s dilemma is the fact that human rights activists, politicians as well as media professionals who advocate for press freedom, equally fail to advocate for better working conditions for journalists in this country. However, MPs, doctors, nurses, teachers, and indeed all workers use the media to advocate for better working conditions.
People who call for professionalism in the media and fail to advocate for better remuneration for journalists’ lose sight, of the fact that it will be difficult if not impossible for journalists to carry out their functions effectively under poor working conditions. Don’t misunderstand me; I am not saying poverty should be an excuse for a journalist to conduct himself in an unprofessional manner. But I ask, how many of them will be able to perform creditably in the midst of such bad working conditions?
It is a fact that ideally, we expect the media to perform its watchdog role effectively. But I ask again, if you refuse to feed your dog, do you expect it to protect your food when a thief offers to give it part of it. I leave that to you to decide. Apparently, how do you expect a journalist who earns a little over 100 Cedis to effectively hold the public officer who earns over 2000 Cedis monthly for his stewardship?
Yet, amid all these daunting challenges, yearly you have journalists who are awarded by the GJA and other organizations, who are believed to have distinguished themselves in this profession. Now to the Journalist of the Year Award .What does he/she take home? Some “nokofio,” a laptop and a training programme abroad. You have Corporate organizations advertising in the media and donating cars and huge sums of monies to beauty pageants.
So doesn’t the Journalist of the Year also deserve Agya Koo’s SUV, or a three bedroom house in Bongo or East Legon?
The Secretary – General for the International Federation of Journalists, Aidan White stated when he came to Ghana last year that “If your journalists are corrupt, then your democracy is flawed.” He hit the nail right on the head and I couldn’t have agreed with him any better. Don’t ask me why? Mrs. Adjoa Yeboah Afari, a former GJA president, once said, “The root cause of “soli” is due to low wages and poor remuneration of journalists.” Whether this statement is a fact or otherwise, I live that to you to judge.
I believe that if we still want to be regarded as the beacon of democracy in Africa, and promote our democracy as well as build strong state institutions, the government, media owners, NMC, GJA, and civil society needs to start taking conscious efforts that would be geared towards the transformation of the working conditions of Journalists in Ghana now or prepare for the “Black Out.” I rest my case!!
