Is That All Of GJA Awards?

IS THAT ALL TO GJA AWARDS?

*Story by*: EDDIE OWUSU-AFRAM, Deputy News Editor, Pink FM

*As usual, *corporate bodies and institutions have begun donating cash and sponsorships towards this year’s Ghana Journalists Association Awards Night which comes off this August 26.

The list of sponsorships for the various categories of entries keeps rising with many institutions wanting to be associated with their products or what they advocate for.

One cannot deny the fact that GJA Awards Night has become a sure annual event not only for the Ghanaian media but for the larger population of Ghana and even beyond our borders.

The special invitation extended to prominent personalities both locally and internationally attests to the international flavor given to this event.

But the question one may ask is: What benefits have the ordinary member of the Association derived from it apart from entering and winning awards?

So if one did not enter for any award category does that put wraps on the individual member from being recognized for any other significant contribution to the media at large?

Let’s assume that those who did not enter for any award category are the “Lazy” ones, what prevents the GJA from lifting its head up or going to town to monitor some events involving media personnel who positively contribute to the politico-socio-economic development of the nation?

Supposing a journalist was at an accident spot to save the injured or had foiled a bank robbery, should he or she has to publish, broadcast of telecast his or her own exploits for three consecutive times to merit an entry and a possible award?

I want to draw the attention of the GJA to the NDC I-instituted Meet-The-Press which has since upheld press freedom and given chance to the Ghanaian media practitioner to articulate on policy issues as presented by the sector Ministers.

Couldn’t the GJA had taken interest in this “media show” to chart a course with the Ministry of Information to at least learn who asked the best question or gave the unbiased contribution all as part of the Fourth Estate of the Realm’s contribution to a free-speech nation?

Why has the GJA remained in “straight Jacket” to only do the same Award Night over and over and not come out with any novelty of ideas to enhance the media landscape?

One would bear me out that out of the hundreds of members who belong to the GJA; only a small percentage could afford the fee charged by the Association to attend the Awards Night with their spouses.

Has the Association done its own investigations to know why the “mobrowa”members cannot afford to grace the occasion over the years but concern itself with the politicians and the big shots who come with their families in their 4x4 land cruisers?

Would the GJA admit a nonchalant attitude to its “mobrowa” members from the privately- owned media houses who are not paid salaries but rely on “soli” at events which is an affront to the ethics of journalism?

If the association knew how these down-trodden journalists from these “poor media homes” squeeze blood from their Solis to pay their GJA dues and yet could not enjoy the fruits of their labour at the end at the year, I believe it will take a second look at the Awards Night attendance.

Many are the complaints of this lowest-income group of journalists who see the Awards Nights as an event for the bourgeois. At least if they for what reasons could not enter for any category at all much more to win, they need to be there to cheer their colleagues and take part in the free food and drinks made available to everybody there.

If the very media people cannot afford to grace such an occasion, then the GJA must change the *Media* to *Public Awards Night*.

This writer has some past embarked on a one-man crusade to rid the media of quack journalists who gate-crash events on daily basis. Even though the top hierarchy knows about this efforts, I think, it will be an incentive for the Association to at least give a spot for someone who is doing much to raise the integrity of the media.

But for its excuses of maintaining its democratic principles of freedom of association, the GJA could have collaborated strongly to get these known miscreants arrested and prosecuted.

To sum it all, the GJA must innovate and come out with some novelty of ideas to broaden its outlook. Yes, the hard working journalists deserve their awards but the GJA must redraw the whole concept of the Awards Night in order not to make it a boring annual event for the general public to the exclusion of the due-paying members. End.