Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
THE MINISTER of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has tasked journalists to always upgrade their knowledge in order to add value to the profession.
According to him, the world is changing faster than expected, therefore media practitioners that would fail to add to their knowledge may end up being sadly left behind or become irrelevant.
“The world we are living in is fast and dynamic, where change remains constant. Let’s keep learning so we stay ahead of the curve,” the Information Minister charged media practitioners in Kumasi on Monday.
The National Media Capacity Enhancement Programme being spearheaded by the Ministry of Information on behalf of the government, was themed “Equipping the Media to Play an Effective Role in Nation Building”, and it was attended by journalists from the electronic and print media.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah highlighted the important roles that media practitioners play in the development of the state, stressing that it was right that his ministry upgraded journalists to perform well.
“Without the media, it is difficult for the state to inform its citizens of developments in the realm and for the citizens to give feedback to the state what their priorities may be,” he indicated.
According to him, from personal experience, he has realised that not all practitioners have been trained professionally in school as journalists, as some, including himself, was trained on the job.
In this regard, he said the Ministry of Information has decided that it would join forces with other stakeholders to help provide periodical training to help journalists to meet modern trends.
“The assumption that media necessarily has the capacity to handle all matters that pop up, daily, from archeology to zoology only because they have been recruited to work in media houses, is false. This falsehood is further aggravated by the reality that a significant proportion of practicing journalists are not recruited because they have graduated from prior journalism training from institutions established for the purpose.
“Indeed, Otumfuo, many practitioners, including myself when I was initially recruited as a journalist in 2007, have had no prior professional training,” the minister remarked.
He added that “it takes regular training and capacity enhancement to keep practitioners on the path of high level professional conduct and by extension, to keep the industry highly professional.”
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi