Professor Kwame Karikari, a Communication Educator, has asked Journalism training institutions to consider the introduction of courses in local languages to promote professionalism in non-English radio stations.
He said though professionalism was quite high in the media landscape, the wrong use of local languages by radio stations was a great concern.
Prof Karikari said this when he took his turn at the third edition of the MTN 25th Anniversary Bright Conversation on the theme: “Promoting Professionalism in The Era of Social Media and Citizen Journalism.”
“Let’s admit that a lot of unprofessional journalism has to do with the fact that many radio and television stations are owned by politicians and politically exposed persons and that is where a lot of the unprofessionalism comes from, especially in the use of local languages.
“But we have not really faced any serious problem of radio and television creating the kind of dangers that you might find in different parts of the world,” he said.
Prof. Karikari, the former Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, commended the State-owned media for high professionalism and asked it to take critical look at the Constitution and their responsibility of questioning authority and opening up to dissenting views.
