Journalism is a profession for the brave – GJA President

The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr. Affail Monney says that Journalism is not a profession for the timorous but the brave.

In a welcome address at a flag-raising ceremony at the Ghana International Press Centre to commemorate the 2020 World Press Freedom Day in Ghana, Mr. Monney, said the theme: Journalism “reinforces the point that journalism is not a profession for timid, timorous souls but one for brave and uncompromising characters”.

Speaking about Ghana’s decline on the global league table of free media systems consistently from 2018 to 2020, Mr. Monney said that the cause was impunity.

“From the Honours List, we zoom in on the global league table of free media systems to examine quickly the causal factors of Ghana’s decline – 23rd in 2018, 27th in 2019 and 30th in 2020. The common thread which runs through our backsliding is impunity” he stated.

He further said impunity when overlooked gradually becomes a tumor in the dispensation of Ghana’s democracy and called on the authorities to briskly work about it.

“Impunity, if not checked, ignites a self-propelling and re- energizing cycle which then becomes hellishly difficult to uproot. A pesky call, therefore, goes to the authorities to deal surgically with the calcifying cancer of impunity by prosecuting and punishing, to the fullest extent within the law, perpetrators of attacks against journalists regardless of their material wealth, social status or political links,” the GJA President stated.

“This is the least action expected in a country touted for its fidelity to the rule of law and not the rule of men. The GJA further urges the government to give birth, with urgent promptitude, to the Monitoring Mechanism on the Safety of Journalists which has been incubating since last year” he added.

Mr. Monney congratulated all media practitioners for their reportage concerning the global pandemic, Coronavirus.

He said “I cannot conclude my welcome address without commending, most highly, the indispensable role the media are playing in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Already in one of the addresses of the president of Ghana, His excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the nation during this COVID-19 pandemic, he describes the media as an “invaluable ally” in the fight against Coronavirus.

The United Nations General Assembly declared 3rd May as World Press Freedom Day.

It is a day observed to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It also to mark the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in Windhoek in 1991.