By Rachel Kakraba
A former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and Head of the Communications Department of Wisconsin University, Dr. Kweku Rockson, has underscored the importance of continuous education and training for professionals, especially journalists.
This he noted is the surest way to understand the various dimensions of society for accurate reportage. Dr. Rockson was speaking in an interview with GBC News, during a brainstorming event for journalists at Aburi in the Eastern Region, for the crafting of guidelines on migration reporting.
It is an initiative of the Ghana Journalists Association, GJA with support from the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization, UNESCO. Dr. Rockson, who doubles as lead for developing the guidelines commended the GJA and UNESCO for the partnership which will be the panacea to ethical reportage on migration. He noted migration has different dimensions and building capacity of journalists is critical.
The project is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development cooperation (maeci) via the Italian agency for development cooperation (Aics) through the ‘Fondo Africa’, a financial instrument aimed at supporting interventions to revive the dialogue and cooperation between Italy and the African countries.
“Every sensitive issue such as migration has all kinds of dimensions, it is important that people learn about writing not just writing but framing and how these things would be taken by those at the receiving end because whatever impression they form will be from what they have read.”
Dr. Rockson encouraged journalists to make use of the guidelines when completed and also to be mindful with the choice of words such that reportage does not create negative emotions. He also challenged the GJA to secure more funding for the training and retraining of journalists such that standards in the profession would not be compromised.
“The GJA has shown it is committed to improving on the capacity of journalists and they should try and get more partnerships on various dimensions so that we will have the opportunity of training journalists so that journalism will not be a simple practice but an intellectual practice.”
The project seeks to understand dynamics of Migration in Ghana and Africa as well as strengthen access to information. It also aims at supporting professional and ethical journalism and developing media capacities through the guidelines for Migration reporting and encouraging journalists to deal ethically with vulnerable communities by prioritizing the social impact of their storytelling.
It is expected that the outcomes will contribute to UNESCO’s change-drive to influence policy in addressing the plights of vulnerable people, such as migrants in Ghana and Africa in general.