Minister urges Ghana Journalists Association to establish peer mechanism

Mr Mohammed Ahmed Baba Jamal, Deputy Minister for Information, has urged the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to establish a peer review mechanism to be able to check the behaviour of journalists to ensure that they conform to the standards and ethics of the profession.

He observed that the noble profession had been invaded by charlatans and unqualified persons whom the GJA must rise up to the occasion to ensure that they were weeded out.

The deputy minister made the remark in Koforidua during the Eastern Regional Meet the Press event, where someone who claimed to be a freelance journalist misbehaved in the full glare of the dignitaries present.

In attendance were the Regional Minister, Members of Parliament, Daasebre Professor Oti Boateng, President of the Regional House of chiefs, heads of department and Municipal and District Chief Executives.

Mr Jamal described the behavior of the so called freelance journalist as very appalling and said the inky fraternity must not allow undeserving people to hold  the profession to ransom, adding that “such behaviour from characters who claim to be journalists makes it difficult for people to take journalists in this country serious”.

According to the Deputy Minister, the GJA should as a matter of urgency  take the issue of cleansing the image of the profession seriously and do all it could to weed out those who were not qualified but had joined the fraternity.

He said it was high time that all journalists irrespective of being members of the GJA conformed to the set rules, standards and ethics of the Association.

Source: GNA