Media freedom ensures free society - GJA President

Accra, July 26, GNA - Mr. Ransford Tetteh, President of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA), on Thursday said the freedom of the media was not only for journalists, but also for the whole society. Mr. Tetteh noted that society would be free when efficient and effective mechanism towards the practice of journalism was ensured. He made the statement when he led a five-member executive body of the GJA, on a working visit to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra. The executive members included Mrs. Yaa Oforiwa Asare-Peasah, Treasurer, Mr. Dave Agbenu, Organising Secretary and Mr. Matthew Mac-Kwame, Public Affairs Officer.

Among others, the visit was to enable the executives to interact with the GNA Management, in order to strengthen co-operation among journalists.

They also interacted with staff of Editorial and Systems/Technical Departments. Mr. Tetteh commended GNA for producing a "good number of GJA Presidents and executives" and expressed the hope that, this would attract an array of distinguished personalities whose interest lie in furthering the development of the association and the country. He said GNA stories to its subscribers were considered to be above reproach, since those stories were fair, balanced and truthful and urged the Agency to sustain its credibility in that regard. He observed that newspapers relied on GNA files, which were supposed to be everywhere, so far as news dissemination was concerned. Mr. Tetteh stressed that the GJA would continue to be relevant, when all the media houses continued to support and co-operate among themselves.

The GJA President announced that the association's awards for this year, was scheduled for August 18.

He said the awards were not meant for management and senior staff of the various media houses alone, but for all the media fraternity. He therefore advised editors to encourage other journalists to enter into the competition.

Mr. Bright Blewu, General Secretary of GJA, said the association was exploring avenues to acquire quantities of lab top computers for journalists, with a view to boost their performance. Mr. Blewu, a former GNA Editorial Staff, advised editors to assist their reporters in selecting good write-ups for consideration for the awards, adding: "There are multiple of prizes to be won". The General Secretary said the association was grateful to the Agency, for shaping the perception of journalists in the performance of their duties and also assisting the secretariat to serve its members better than before.

Nana Appau Duah, General Manager (GM) of GNA, who welcomed the members, said GNA's stories were international and that its relevance had been established. He said journalists from the Agency worked hard to increase productivity and was therefore, happy that the GNA was in the lead in news item delivery in the country and beyond.

The GM noted that because of the credible nature of GNA news items, nobody had ever taken GNA to the Media Commission. He stated that the Agency would continue to support the association in its candid manner in order to help lift high the flag of GJA. Nana Appau Duah noted that the radio stations used the agency's stories free without any payments, adding: "Whereas we need money to upgrade our skills".

He said staffs of the Agency were working hard to help in the Agency's quest for honours and that: "We have been winning international awards". He noted that if we want to remain as media family, it was proper to interact more often.

Mr. Boakye-Dankwa Boadi, Supervising Chief Editor (SCE) of the Agency, said the Agency was doing its best to maintain the lead in news production, by emulating the efforts of its past management members. He said GNA did not compare itself to Africa but the world: "Since we are the first in Africa". This, he said, called for a new direction to increase output. Mr. Boadi noted that the way GNA covered the just ended African Union (AU) were excellent. He called on all Media Houses to rely on GNA files for accurate information.

He said: "We have remained focus with regard to what government expects us to do".

The SCE was not happy that radio stations that used GNA news, portrayed as if they had written such quality stories and then made follow-ups in respect of interviews.

He said it was bad that none of the foreign news carried by most of the electronic and press houses were credited to GNA. Mr. Boadi appealed to all media houses that used and continued to use GNA stories to endeavour to credit the source. He commended media houses such as Graphic and Times who often credited GNA stories and for patronizing its files. Mr. Boadi pointed out: "GNA is a statutory body and when performing functions, we are performing statutory functions, unlike the rest of the Media Houses".

Mr. Ray Ankomah, Business Manager, briefed the executives on Subscriptions and the News Division and appealed to the GJA to send more advertisements to the Agency.