“We don’t celebrate ourselves because of the nature of our work.

 By the nature of journalism, we hardly speak about ourselves.

We are always talking about other organisations,” the Director of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Professor Amin Alhassan said.

He pointed out that if there was one institution that had contributed to the very formation of the country, and its celebrated democratic credentials, it was the institution of journalism and must, therefore, be celebrated.

“Ghana was not bought through war.

We didn’t win it through the armed forces, neither the police, neither the executives nor it was a bunch of MPs who came together and brought Ghana into being.

 It came into being through the pen of the journalist,” he said at the inauguration of Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) 75th anniversary planning committee in Accra.

Prof. Alhassan said occasions such as the anniversary should offer the Ghanaian media the opportunity to tell its story and to remind corporate Ghana that if they enjoyed doing business in the country due to its peaceful environment, it was due to the contribution of the media, and so it must be supported.

The media industry, he noted, was struggling due to economic siege and, therefore, the need for corporate Ghana to support it to remain relevant.

He said organisations that employed journalists must be given the needed attention from either Parliament or from the executive knowing that no democracy could survive without the journalist.

He indicated that there had never been a time that the institution of journalism had suffered such economic siege.

“Talk to every media executive and they will tell you that every year you think this was bad, next year it gets worse.

We need that conversation and we need the attention”, Prof. Alhassan said while calling for support for the media so it could survive the economic siege.

“We need the resources to make a statement about the contribution of journalism to the development of our dear country Ghana”.

He called on the GJA executive to ensure that the issue of how to find innovative means of supporting the media took centre stage in its engagement with key stakeholders.

The planning committee

The 11-member anniversary planning committee will be chaired by a former Director of Radio at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Godwin Avenorgbo, with other members such as media consultant and private legal practitioner; Marian Kyei, member of the National Media Commission and former Editor, Graphic, Kobby Asmah; a former Head of Public Affairs, Ghana Standards Authority; Peter Agbeko, a former Central Regional Director of the GBC, Ellen Avorgbedor, and Eastern Regional Chairman of the GJA, Maxwell Kudekor.

The others are Editor of Graphic Business, Boahene Asamoah; former Western Regional Secretary of the GJA, Zambaga Rufai; Central Regional Manager of the Ghana News Agency, and former Central Regional Chairperson of the GJA, Alice Tettey; a lecturer at the University of Media, Arts and Communication, Dr Etse Sikanku, and a former Vice President of the GJA, Mathias Tibu.

The committee is expected to plan activities for the 75th anniversary across the country from March to be climaxed in September at the GJA Media Awards.

Activities will include a major event on August 15 to mark the 75th birthday of the GJA.

The GJA President, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, expressed the association’s gratitude to the chairman and members of the committee for accepting to serve the GJA in that capacity.

“We all as an Association have every reason to be happy for this day but it must be emphasised that the journey has not been a smooth one,” he said, and added that press freedom had been fraught with intense oppression from past dictatorial and oppressive governments leading to the prosecution and detention of journalists who dared to give a voice to the voiceless.

He recalled how the year 2001 became a turning point for the Ghanaian media as the then President, John Agyekum Kufuor, repealed the criminal libel law, which sought to suppress the development of media freedom and gag journalists and media practice in Ghana.

“Let me seize the opportunity to commend former President J. A Kufuor who listened to the appeal of our forebears and repealed the obnoxious criminal libel law.

But for the repeal of the criminal libel law, a lot of journalists would have been in jail by now,” he said.

The chairman of the committee, Mr Avenorgbo, who pledged to make the anniversary a big success, said the committee would work with unity of purpose to enhance the values of the association.