Journalists need better working conditions - Monney

Tamale, Nov. 26, GNA - Mr. Afail Monney, Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has called for better working conditions for journalists in the country to motivate them to check corruption.

He expressed concern that journalists in both the state and private media had worked under deplorable conditions and even at the peril of their lives only to be paid "slave wages".

Mr. Monney was speaking to GNA after a two-day workshop, organized by the Northern Regional Chapter of the GJA and UNICEF for 35 journalists from the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions, in Tamale on Wednesday.

The event was aimed at updating the knowledge of participants on ethical reporting regarding children and the United Nations convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Ghana was a signatory.

Mr Monney said some journalists, especially those in the private media, did not receive salaries and were compelled to "prey on innocent victims." He noted that journalists were the best advocates for workers and even the unemployed but did little to improve their working conditions.

Mr Monney said that "once some journalists are not paid and others poorly paid, they would use all means to make money regardless of their professional ethics." He noted that offending professionals were only concerned about how to earn a living and blamed the situation on government and owners of privat= e media. Mr. Monney, however, cautioned journalists that there was no justification for them to recklessly violate the ethics and standards of their profession and condemned media managers who engaged the services of=

untrained journalist. He appealed to the Trade Unions Congress and the National Media Commission to collaborate and tackle problems facing journalists.