
Gabriel Amoah, Press Secretary to the Ashanti Regional Minister
The press secretary to the Ashanti Regional Minister, Gabriel Amoah, has noted that the development of every country is closely related to the level of journalism training and its practice.
He said media training institutions remain crucial in ensuring responsible journalism, adding that “it is important to produce journalists with the requisite knowledge and skills to help challenge the status quo and address challenges”.
Mr Amoah made the observation during the 4th graduation ceremony of the OTEC School of Journalism and Communication Studies, dubbed “Ensuring Responsible Journalism: The Role of Media Training Institutions”.
He urged management of the school to keep pushing for academic excellence in the media, saying “majority of communication training schools in the country are interested in running courses that make it difficult for their students to compete on the job market”.
This, he bemoaned, makes it difficult in recent times to recognise a good journalism training institutions.
“Majority of the schools focus on Disc Jockeying, Sports Presentation, Akan News Presentation, among others, but we should note that these afore-mentioned courses are just like make-up which beautifies the students when they come out of school. Students can only thrive when they have the ability to analyze, write creatively and act professionally,” he noted.
More to do
Mr Amoah said that more efforts must be made in ensuring that the kind of educational contents adopted shape the mindsets of students.
“This will go a long way to seek truth and report it, minimize harm in their reportage, and more importantly be accountable and transparent at all times,” he added.
In his view, for the media to function properly, responsibility and professionalism are necessary on the side of journalists, with professional education and training of journalists.
The Principal of OTEC School of Journalism and Communication Studies, Matthew Donkor, said the world needs a more viable communication environment since global challenges are becoming more complex due to uncontrollable factors.
To this end, he charged the students not to imitate the unprofessionalism out there, but come out with creative solutions and embrace responsible journalism.