The Ghana Journalists Association, GJA, is calling on media practitioners in the country to provide avenues for consensus-building rather than stoke any conflict or tensions.
Roland Affail Monney, the GJA President in a Christmas Message said 2022 promises to be more challenging with the expected return of the controversial debate on E-levy and the jostling for positions by political actors in readiness for the next elections.
He said, “All this underlines the need for the media not to stoke the embers of conflict nor fan the flames of tension. Rather, they should create a consensual framework to help resolve burning national issues and scale other formidable hurdles so as to put the nation on a path of political toleration, democratic ascendancy, peaceful co-existence, and meaningful development!”
The GJA further stated, the media front “witnessed the display of distinctively distilled journalism,” while on the flip side, there were “ethically bankrupt practices which spell a negative image for the profession.”
The GJA praised the media for their mandate and dutiful to the public by holding duty bearers to account, exposing acts of corruption, oiling the wheels of democracy and feeding the citizens with vital news and information, including the dishonourable spectacle in Parliament over the chaotic E- levy debate.
The Message stated, “journalists will resume work from their well-deserved Christmas break re-energized and re-focused to navigate the New Year with a high sense of professionalism, and absolute fidelity to the values we hold dear as responsible media practitioners.”
“It is also customary to wish our senior journalists, editors, online editors, film editors, sub-editors, film reporters, bloggers, presenters, producers, cameramen, camerawomen, proofreaders, and social media activists a Merry Christmas and Productive New Year,” the massage stressed.
Read the full statement below.
