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Counting the days (2)... Internship at Daily Graphic, The Mirror - Vance Azu writes

Vance Azu Opinion Nov - 18 - 2020 , 16:44 4 minutes read

Night Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Vance Azu, continues the counting of his days to retirement, with more reminisces.

The following month, I was posted to the Daily Graphic, which had Sam Clegg as the Editor, Elvis Aryeh as Deputy Editor, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh as News Editor, and a whole lot of senior editors and reporters, such as Breda Atta-Quayson, the Castle Correspondent; Malek Eshun, A.E. Amoah, who later became a Member of Parliament for Mpohor Wassa; Kwaku Baka, K.K. Dako, Daniel Kondor, Faustina Ashrifie, Abigail Bonsu, Joe Bradford Nyinah, Kofi Yeboah-Agyeman, Afua Serwaa Berko, E.G.K. Deletsa, Adwoa Van Ess, Janet Quainoo and Mavis Kitcher (I worked under both of them later at The Mirror and the Junior Graphic, respectively, as the Assistant Editor).

There were younger ones too, including my current Editor, Kobby Asmah, Siisi Quainoo, Joe Isaac Haizel, Frankie Asare-Donkor, Joe Okyere, Rosemary Ardayfio, Victoria Odoi, among others.

At that time, the Graphic newsroom was very intimidating, and most interns feared to stay there for long. However, things have changed now and I will elucidate on that.

The newsroom was boisterous and always engulfed in heated debates and arguments among the senior journalists. We, the green horns, mostly enjoyed their unending line of arguments, but woe betide you, if you dare to join by chipping in your views, not even when you had a superior position on the subject under discussion.

The Mirror

After the second month of internship, I was posted to The Mirror, the paper with which I fell in love years before I entered the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ). As it were, I spent a greater part of my career as a journalist at The Mirror, where I rose through the ranks to become the Assistant Editor in 2012.

I was warmly welcomed at The Mirror, which had a more hospitable set-up than the Daily Graphic.

I felt at home there because during my one-month stay at the Daily Graphic, I bonded ‘well well’ with the members of staff at The Mirror, particularly Ransford Tetteh, who mentored me; Ivan Dornu Adjokatcher, who was my friend long before I entered journalism school; Eben C. Sam, Nanabanyin Dadson, Larweh Therson-Cofie, A.B.A. Fuseini, Abraham Kofoya Tetteh, my kinsman; the late Margaret Safo, with whom I had worked on some research projects for Dr Obeng Quaidoo and Nana Bosumprah, both of the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana (UG), Legon, and Dr Kweku Rockson of the GIJ, who owned the QBR Research Group.

There were also Kwesi Koomson and Franz Vanderpuiye, both service persons, who were a year ahead of me at the GIJ and were close associates.
Generally, I was cool at The Mirror.

Human interest stories

At The Mirror, I was taken through some orientation by the News Editor, Mr Sam, and other senior journalists in the unit, such as Ransford and Kofoya, while my pal, Adjokatcher, also helped me greatly to get my rhythm.

The Mirror stories tended to be human interest and soft news that could make the reader relax over the weekend. I was asked by the team to go through past issues of the newspaper and get ideas about the sort of stories that the paper dwelt on.

I used the first day at The Mirror to peruse a heap of past copies of the paper. In no time, I “found my level”. Within two weeks, my stories started making the front pages.

In fact, they were very interesting stories, particularly from my ‘holy village’ and adjoining communities such as Kpong, Akrade, Akuse (where DCOP Yaagi Akuribah was the District Police Commander and great source of human interest stories for The Mirror) Akosombo, Atimpoku, Asesewa, Somanya, among others.

I considered myself fortunate, as an intern, for my stories to have made the front page of The Mirror, because then, the paper had crack reporters who were all competing for the one slot on the front page.

As the weeks rolled by, the team members at The Mirror kept encouraging me to continue working hard.

My motivation at the time was to end up as a reporter at the Graphic Corporation, because I learnt at an orientation held for interns on News Reporting by Mr Ebo Afful, a lecturer, that one’s output during the internship would determine which media house would engage him or her after completing school, particularly for national service.

The writer is the Night Editor of the Daily Graphic.

Writer’s E-mail: vanceazu@yahoo.com