Guiding The Young Talents In The Media Towards Professional And Productive Results

It is basic that the mainstay of most economies in the world in this 21st Century rests with the productivity and resourcefulness of the youth. The proliferation of diverse media platforms and broadcasting houses are on the ascendancy in Ghana. Apart from being a major avenue for employment, it is important that Ghana finds a more effective way of nurturing the young talents coming out of the various tertiary institutions which deal with media training, with the right tutelage which constantly reminds us that, the reputation and image of our country to the outside world, lies in our prints and electronic broadcast.

Upon careful scrutiny, what I see is that most of the institutions training tomorrows are not well equipped with well- resourced lecturers and facilities. The end products who are usually accredited with various forms of diplomas and degrees come out and sound as green as the grass in the rainy season.

                                      Lovin C at DW

Ghana needs to realise that the image of this country is paramount and the journalists of today need to be educated on those. That is not to say the TRUTH must be swept under the carpet. Whatever we write or say at any given time is key. Anytime we pick up our pens or laptops to write, or go onto the radio, television and onto the internet with our stories, we must keep at the back of our minds that we are painting a picture of our country to the outside world. The colours we choose to paint the picture lies within our domain. Being careless and washing our dirty linen outside on social media does not give us any good image outside irrespective of the government in power. This derails our tourism potential on the world market. Every single region in this country is endowed with something special that the outside world would like to explore but we spend about 95% of our energy on politics, soccer and promiscuity. Good Programmers are an integral requirement on any radio or television station but media owners   prefer cheap labour. They drop the well- trained professionals and opt for the untrained ones who will take just any offer and visit their mediocrity on the masses.

Despite the pain the COVID-19 has inflicted on us, there is still a way we can market our country to attract the needed foreign exchange for total development which in a way might not even bring up stringent policies. The National Media Commission must be empowered to come up with policies which bars the naivety of yellow journalism on the airwaves lately. The Germans say “im Äther grün zu klingen” which loosely translates to “sounding green on the airwaves”.

                          Lovin C In The Studios At DW

The Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra is doing a great job of churning out good quality material, so is the Training School at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Accra and the University of Ghana Legon. I will appeal to the government to redirect resources to the training of media personnel nationwide and draft policies for their upkeep so that they can deliver professionally. Our journalism ethics of some bloggers and people on social media is debasing and we must address that with immediate effect. Apart from some of the fake stories they plant to malign people, the diction chosen raises serious questions about the standard of education in Ghana. Some African countries are doing very well with their media delivery and we could do better. Countries like Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa etc are doing so well with the output of their mainstream media. The days when we used to broadcast to ourselves with Ghana is far gone. We must realise these days that, soon as any news item leaves the editors desk, it’s already out there and could easily be accessed everywhere in the world. The two- or three-day workshops we have been organising in Ghana, which is even selective, won’t bring the desired quality we require to face the global challenge.

News reading is not a stand-up comedy. It must be rendered with all the seriousness it requires but what is happening now on most radio and TV stations is so shameful. The way they scream at the listeners and the outfit some of them take to the studio at the mercy of the eye balls around the globe is a mockery. Sports presentation is not sensationalism nor is it a scheme to malign sports men who do not dole out cash. Sports also goes beyond soccer so we can do better with our content. Radio disc jockeys who scratch on records every second and sing on top of lyrics must adhere to the ethics as well. We must widen the scope of our music delivery as well to cater for all age brackets. There is a great difference between playing music on radio and in the nightclub. Let’s put a premium on our music. Let’s listen widely and deliver material which can catch the attention of the outside world.

Sadly, most radio stations in Ghana today, sound the same and you can’t tell the difference when you scroll across. What that means is that we are failing to be innovative. Let’s all be professional and stop maligning the few good ones we have around who are the trailblazers for the younger ones for better delivery.

Renowned Broadcasting legend Charlie Sam once told me at GBC Accra that “you can’t reinvent the wheel” when I tried delivering the little poetry, I knew in the form of Rap on my LIVE RADIO SHOW. On the contrary some Radio and Television personalities are doing a great job and must be commended. The likes of Evans Mensah, Kojo Yankson of Joy FM, Johnny Hughes & Berla Mundi of TV 3 are also on point. Nana Aba Anamoah, George Addo Jnr, Kuami Sefa Kayi, Seth Kwame Boateng and Ameyaw Debrah etc give us hope for a better tomorrow. In Kumasi there are some emerging young talents who are also doing well and need to be encouraged.

However, the bane of most of the present generation of journalists is that they do not research and also ask questions from their more experienced colleagues. What helped some of us to reach this far, was our persistent nature of asking questions from our superiors who were in the limelight then. The likes of the late Charlie Sam, Harriet Techie Menson, Akwasi Donkor, James Amartey, KKD, Amamoo Kakra, Kofi Adjorlolo, Tommy Annan Forson and for the prints Nehemiah Owusu Achiaw, Sebastian Freiku, Boniface Ablekpe, Kojo Yankah etc were ever ready to answer and give counsel where needed.

There is no end to education, so I will encourage the youth in the media today to be humble but daring enough to ask questions because one cannot find all the fine details of journalism in one textbook. Before we go and sit behind the console in the studio, let’s be abreast of the topic for discussion so that we can ask the right questions as Anchors so that we can serve the masses well as the fourth estate of the realm. There is a lot of work and research the media has to do with the kind of Hung Parliament we have in the country presently. We must even aspire to follow the action Vladimir Putin of Russia has taken against Ukraine because it will definitely have an impact on the weak economies in Africa.

I will also humbly appeal that the door to the Ghana Journalism Association is open to the younger journalists so that they can enrol and be able to ask the necessary questions to be able to learn new things on a daily basis. It is the duty of the experienced ones to guide the youth and the role of the up and coming to listen. Media Owners must also be prepared to pay for quality, so that the end product is near perfection and corruption is eliminated. Security of journalists must be given a second look and responsible free speech must not be gagged. Journalists who have perished under strange circumstances like Daniel Ennin of the FREE PRESS and the others must have their cases properly investigated to encourage the younger ones to give off their very best to uplift the image of the fourth estate of the realm in Ghana.

William des Bordes

(Lovin’ C)

International Media Practitioner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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