The media has been urged to intensify its investment in corporate social activities aimed at enhancing the socio-economic wellbeing of the populace.
Dr Kwaku Rockson, Senior Lecturer at Wisconsin University and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Consultant, who made the call said, media organisations, as corporate entities, were expected to undertake initiatives to assist the larger society and support various social causes.
He was speaking at a public lecture organised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in Accra on Tuesday.
It was on the theme, “Aligning Journalism Practice with the Social Responsibility Initiative: The Role of Media Practitioners, Media Institutions and the GJA.”
To ensure the GJA has a vanguard role to play in further strengthening social responsibility principles in the activities of media practitioners and media organisations, Dr Rockson called on the association to consider introducing two new categories in the annual GJA Journalists awards to include the Individual Social Responsibility Media Practitioner of the Year and the Corporate Social Responsibility Media Organisation of the Year.
He asked the GJA to establish a voluntary group, Association of Socially Responsible Media Organisations, to enable members to sign up to a code of principles to show professionalism, high ethical conduct and social responsibility in their media practice.
He advised media entities to introduce stand-alone social responsibility initiatives or collaborate with state institutions to execute social responsibility programmes.
As media training institutions, Dr Rockson urged them to take corporate social responsibility as a multi-disciplinary, since it covers elements of ethics, marketing, law, industrial relations, and economics, among others.
To sustain interest in corporate social responsibility, he called on media practitioners to learn about the discipline in order to appreciate its importance and how it affects lives in the society and the country at large.
Earlier, Stanbic Bank donated GH₵20,000 towards the 70th anniversary celebration of the GJA.
President of GJA, Roland Affail Monney, expressed the association’s gratitude to the bank for its continuous support, adding that the GJA was committed to collaborating with corporate organisations in promoting the wellbeing of Ghanaians.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
