Motivate staff to deliver on mandate — GJA

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has called on media organisations to adopt innovative measures to keep their respective staff motivated to deliver their critical mandate as the fourth estate of the realm.

The President of the association, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, said it was important for journalists to stay motivated in the profession in order not to “move on from the calling to the prestigious duty” of holding duty bearers responsible.

He said the importance of journalists in the scheme of national development could not be overstated and that journalists needed to find the motivation to grow their experiences and expertise to the benefit of the larger society.

Mr Dwumfour made the call when he led a delegation of executives of the GJA to call on the editorial board of the Daily Graphic and other senior journalists of the Graphic Communications Group Ltd in Accra last Tuesday.

The meeting discussed matters of mutual interest, including the mandate of the media, journalists’ welfare, adherence to professional ethics and the need for the state to resource media houses in which it has a stake for them to adapt to trends and changes in the media landscape.

Mr Dwumfour said while the media remained an integral part of national development, practitioners owed it a duty to themselves and the profession to be professional to engender confidence among the public.

He admitted that financial draw had lured a good number of media practitioners out of the profession and that such departures had made the profession poorer.

“The GJA is our own association. It's our own fraternity.

So when we talk about issues affecting us, we do it for the interest of the media, which include all of us sitting here,” the GJA President said.

Mr Dwumfour said the media, like other professions, could better serve the society when its practitioners deployed their experiences, including institutional memories, in the discharge of their duties.

The Editor, Graphic, Theophilus Yartey, said such engagements between media houses and the mother association of journalists were good in order to share ideas and to uphold their collective interests.

He said the Graphic Group had played its role as a leader and a major stakeholder in the local media space through years of outstanding professional work, adding that it would continue to maintain its professional outlook towards work.

Mr Yartey said staff motivation remained critical in order to retain experienced hands and minds in the profession.

He consequently applauded the GJA leadership for its commitment to the welfare of members of the fraternity.