Every journalist like the hunter always has a dream, while the hunter may dream of big games, a journalist always dreams of big stories that would capture the headlines.
The Media is referred to as the fourth estate of the realm after the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. Journalists work tirelessly day and night to report on any breaking news, events and activities of the government and civil society and dare where angels fear to tread.
The general public, government and politicians rely much on journalist's reports to formulate policies and take decisions that affect the daily lives of the people. They are the watchdogs over the activities of all including the government. The journalist's work sets the agenda for the people; gives voice to the voiceless and do influence government policies and programmes.
However, their job is quite stressful and others even work at the peril of their lives particularly in countries led by military governments. Many journalists have lost their lives in the course of duty, especially in war-torn areas and even in countries that have peace.
Also, there is another twist of such dreams of some journalists in the country. Their major pre-occupation and dreams are focused on where the big programmes are in town and where they could get big "soli", a popular term among Ghanaian journalists referring to monies given to journalists to cushion them in their work or a kind of ex-gratia.
It is common knowledge to see some individuals, parading themselves as journalists moving from one function to another soliciting for "soli". It is sometimes very embarrassing to see how these individuals behave at functions or programmes. They virtually attack event organizers for "soli" as if they had the right to make the demand.

WHO IS A JOURNALIST?
The seventh edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defined a journalist as "a person whose job is to collect and write news stories for newspapers, magazines, radio or television". Others define a journalist as an individual that engages in a job in order to inform, educate and entertain his audience through a medium.
This Writer doubts if many of these so called "journalists" qualify under any of these definitions. These people do not write or work for any media house or belong to any media organization and are untrained as professional journalists but engage in this dirty practice to make ends meet.
The Wikipedia encyclopaedia paints the picture clearer that a journalist is someone, who engages in the gathering, collecting and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues and people while striving for viewpoints that aren't biased. Reporters are a one type of journalists. They create reports as a profession for broadcast or publication in the mass media such as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, documentary films and the internet.
Though the practice of quack journalists also referred to as "paparazzi" in Ghana has continued for a very long time with some even getting older in the system, no serious action has been taken against them and they continue to drag the image of the noble profession into the mud to the extent that all over the country and even in the Upper Regions, such people are found.
Most often they engage in struggling for money and even sometimes do exchange blows with event organizers for "soli". They struggle over food. Indeed their behaviour is outrageous and unethical to say the least. A careful study of them would tell they were school dropouts, who have found it difficult to cop with life and have decided to degrade the image of journalism in the country.

MUSHROOM JOURNALISM SCHOOLS
The mushroom journalism schools doted all over the country with some even in the Northern Regions is the biggest contributor to this ascending calamity to this noble profession. There are schools that run six-month courses and award diplomas in journalism. These schools have no accreditation. Students are taught by non-qualified tutors and so what they come out to practice is anything but journalism.
The Government, journalists and politicians alike should and must rise up against this scourge that is destroying the noble profession. The Government must use it coercive agents to uproot this evil tree. Its poisonous fruits were seen during Election 2008 when all kinds of reports were filed that nearly brought the nation to a breaking point. Whose duty is it to close unaccredited journalism schools?

THE GHANA JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION (GJA)
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) unlike other professional bodies can do very little about the situation since it is more of a voluntary association than a statutory one like the Bar Association. There is a school of thought that holds that since free expression is the mother of all freedoms nothing should be done to prevent anybody from practising journalism.
This Writer sees this as unacceptable because it opens the floodgates for all sorts of dangerous materials to be put into the public domain and this could precipitate conflicts of unimaginable proportions. It is about time the GJA made a very positive impact in the field of journalism by spearheading the passage of legislation to empower it to enforce professional ethics.
The definition of who is a journalist in the GJA constitution is nebulous and needs sharpening. In the UK, there is the Chartered Institute of Journalists, while the US has the Society for Professional Journalists, among other bodies that maintain ethical codes.
The GJA must be placed in a position to sanction those who flout the ethics of the profession. The situation where some journalists cockishly refuse to apologise even where they know they got it wrong must not be entertained again.

THE NATIONAL MEDIA COMMISSION (NMC)
The National Media Commission, the only constitutional regulatory body that maintains professional conduct of journalists also appears to be emasculated.
There have been instances that some Editors had shown gross disrespect to the NMC by refusing to comply with its directives and yet nothing is done to them.
The NMC Law must, therefore, be given a second look, to give it the clout to enforce its decisions. Once the NMC has been empowered to deal with non-professional conduct in journalism, it must be enabled to also do something positive about the working conditions of the Ghanaian Journalist, especially those working in the State media since their salaries and other conditions of service are woefully inadequate.
Is it not interesting that after the journalists have projected the politicians to the people and got them elected, they soon forget the pen that lifted them to their high offices? Come to think about the condition of service of politicians compared to that of journalists, who criss-crossed the whole country with them during the electioneering period. As for the ex-gratia award, the least said about it the better. The Ghanaian journalist deserves something better.