Mamfehene expresses concern about invasion of Journalism profession

The Mamfehene and Kyidomhene of the Akuapem Traditional Area, Nana Ansah Sasraku, has said that every profession required training to guide and protect the ethics of the profession and journalism must not be an exception.

He expressed worry over the seeming invasion of the journalism profession where any person who could write and read without any training becomes a journalist over night.

He said this had made the profession loose where people have turned journalism into an avenue for money making through any means.

The chief called on the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to rise to the occasion and put in measures that would curb the trend.

Nana Ansah Sasraku said this when he hosted members of the Eastern Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) at Mamfe Akuapem on Monday.

“The loose entry into the profession has resulted in blackmailing and mercenary form of journalism in the country.”

The chief said the trend, if not checked, would be dangerous for the image of the profession in the near future where the media could lose its enviable position as the fourth estate of the realm, and urged the GJA as a matter of urgency to act to redeem the image of the profession.

He cited instances where some people who professed to be journalists in the region had blackmailed public office holders and took huge sums of money yet they still go around parading as journalists.

Nana Ansah Sasraku said as the elections approached, tensions could be high and as people who were recognized by the law to educate and inform, journalists must practice self censorship by ensuring that information put out served the interest of the nation and not parochial interests.

He said there were so many developmental issues that remained a challenge in Ghana and journalists owed it a duty to Ghanaians to inform the public on those issues to enable them vote on issues for a better nation than to create platforms for insults.

Nana Ansah Sasraku and members of the Mamfe Traditional Council hosted members of the GJA to a lunch to show appreciation for the hard work of the GJA in the region in reporting on issues that had contributed to peace and tranquility in the area.

Mr Emmanuel Sarfo, a former Regional Editor of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and currently the Chief Editor of the Monitor newspaper based in the region, thanked the chief and his elders on behalf of the GJA and assured the chief that the observations made would be addressed.**