Young journalists have been urged to uphold professional standards, seek solutions to issues and avoid the practice of becoming just people who gather information for news.
The TV3 broadcast journalist, and the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) Journalist of the year for 2022, Mrs Portia Gabor, gave the advice last Thursday at a public lecture at the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC – GIJ), Accra.
The lecture, which was on the theme “Journalism, Innovation and Development: Frontiers for advocacy and social change”, was organised under the auspices of the Directorate of Research, Innovation, and Development (DRID).
It brought together journalists, students, members of the academia and other professionals to deliberate on issues of public interest.
According to Mrs Gabor, “people have moved from just listening to news to how the news or journalists can give solutions to the issues.
“People are aware of the power of journalism and how it can bring change to society. Journalists should cause the changes by taking the notch higher than the core goal of just informing, educating and entertaining.”
She explained that journalism was like a microphone to amplify the voices of people who could not be heard, hence there was a reason for journalists to provide more knowledge.
“Everyone has a voice but there are many people whose voices are not loud enough so they need a journalist to come in to amplify their voices for them, so journalism to me is like a microphone amplifying the voices of those whose voices cannot be heard,” she stated.
Mrs Gabor appealed to more young female journalists to aim at becoming investigative journalists in order to help solve problems of society.
“Every journalist is important because just one person carries the issues of dozens people,” she noted.
The Acting Rector, UniMAC-GIJ and Chairman of the Event, Professor Eric Opoku Mensah, said journalism was a calling and asked journalists to be fearless and do more to help change society.
He commended Mrs Gabor for the hard work, contribution to broadcast journalism and the role she has been playing in the media, and encouraged students of the institute to tap into the knowledge of those who had excelled in the profession and adhere to its ethics.
BY ANITA ANKRAH
