Oppong Nkrumah advocates for more investments in training of journalists

Ghana’s Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has challenged the international community to invest in training journalists as part of efforts to improve free and responsible media.

Mr Nkrumah was addressing a panel at the Global Forum on media freedom held in London earlier this week.

“It is not enough to wait for journalists to make mistakes and get into trouble before we gather to make money available for campaigns to protect journalists. Let us dedicate a good chunk of this global fund to support the training and capacity enhancement of journalists. That way, quality journalism will become the norm and not the exception. The little mistakes will be crowded out and free and responsible media will gain higher mileage” he said.

He said Ghana is rolling out a media capacity enhancement program which is aimed at boosting the competences of media practitioners in the delivery of their mandate.

Stakeholders drawn from media, academia and civil society groups are near completion on the program framework. The first batch of beneficiaries are expected to receive support by September 2019.

Mr. Nkrumah believes more media houses and journalists should be supported to deliver exceptional works if the industry is to achieve its full potential.

The UK and Canadian governments jointly organised the two-day conference which also saw representatives of governments around the world signed a pledge to work together to protect media freedom.

‘Ghana taking measures to stop attacks on journalists’

At the conference, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said through the implementation of a Coordinating Mechanism on the Safety of Journalists, media practitioners in Ghana as well as other stakeholders will be equipped to prevent abuse of journalist and also be able to independently validate future claims of attacks.