The plights of the Ghanaian journalist.

By Emmanuel Agyenfra Boateng, Freelance Journalist.

The Pen Fraternity in Ghana,which is one of the best in Africa and also the fourth estate in the country seems not to be satisfying the ordinary Ghanaian,as they expected them to be working.

What most people are forgetting is that,the Pen Fraternity also have their own problems to solve when it comes to their wellbeing.Their problem is like stomach aches,if you don’t gnash your teeth,no one will know you are suffering.

So many young people have the passion to join the Pen Fraternity as a means of helping their beloved nation,but after entering,the passion evaporates away,paving way for unethical practices which drags the name of the profession into the mud.

So many factors amounts to this kind of lackadaisical work.Considering the remuneration being given to some media men in the country,one turns to ask if they will really give their best in their job.Some of them are not paid atall,those who are paid are also paid below the minimum wage!Those who benefit a lot from their job are those lucky to be in well to do media houses,be it in TV,Radio,online and print.

Just yesterday,a news editor in a radio station was telling me how a young reporter made a bad story,simply because the organisers of a church programme he attended did not give him “soli”.How many journalists will place patrioticness ahead of monetary gains?

We have so many stomach journalists because of the poor welfare being given to them by owners of media houses.Just recently,we had a whole staff of a TV station going on a sit down strike,because of poor remuneration and welfare.

The Ghana Journalists Association is another fiasco when it comes to matters relating to the media,though not all journalists are under the umbrella,we expect them to champion the cause of all journalists. When are we going to get the likes of Mr.Richard Kojo Ellimah,Mr.Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako,Alhaji Haruna Atta,Mr.Kwesi Pratt Jnr and the current ones as Anas Aremeyaw Anas,Manasseh Azure Awuni and others who put the nation first in all their works.

People atimes complain about journalists doing the will of some wicked politicians,what do they have to do?But I humbly call on my friends to put the nation first in all their works. THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN SWORD.