Accra, Sept 16, GNA - Representatives of the major Journalism training institutions in Ghana at a meeting to brainstorm on to improve economic and financial reporting on Tuesday, have expressed concern about the "mushrooming" of journalism institutions in the country. A statement signed by Mr Bright Blewu, General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association on Wednesday, said the situation was "churning out half-backed journalists" and called on the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to publicise the list of institutions accredited to undertake journalism training in the country. It also called on the NAB to state the criteria for awarding accreditation to such institutions.
Nana Essilfie-Kondua, Director of Studies, African Institute of Journalism and Communications, Mr David Newton, Director of the Ghana Institute of Journalism and Mr Gilbert Tietaah, a lecturer of the School of Communication Studies, Legon, participated in the three-day meeting Mr Blewu, General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association and Mr Kwesi Afriyie Badu, Chief Executive Officer of KAB Governance Consult also attended the meeting.
The statement said they stressed the need to strengthen the capacities of the journalism training institutions in the teaching of economics and finance. They identified lack of economics and finance lecturers as one of the major obstacles facing economic and financial journalism The participants were of the view that one of the ways to tackle the problem was to encourage students and practitioners with strong background in economics and business to acquire professional journalism training and skills. The participants urged the training institutions offering graduate and degree courses to explore for students with interest in economics and financial and to seek the assistance of institutions like the Banking College and Centre for Policy Analysis, which it said had expressed interest to offer lecturers in economics and finance.
