Invest in training and media support – Oppong Nkrumah

General News of Saturday, July 13, 2019

Source: starrfm.com.gh

2019-07-13

Ghana's Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, challenged the international community to focus on investing in training and capacity building for journalists as part of efforts to improve the freedom and accountability of the media .

Nkrumah was addressing a panel of the World Forum on Freedom of the Media in London earlier this week.

"It's not enough to wait for journalists to make mistakes and trouble before we come together to raise funds for journalists' protection campaigns. Let's spend a lot of this global fund on training and capacity building for journalists. "

"Thus, quality journalism will become the norm and not the exception, small mistakes will be squeezed out and free and responsible media will save time," he said.

Ghana is implementing a media capacity building program aimed at strengthening the skills of media professionals in fulfilling their mandate.

Stakeholders from the media, academia and civil society groups are nearing completion in the program. The first group of beneficiaries is expected to receive support by September 2019.

Mr. Nkrumah believes that more news organizations and journalists should be encouraged to deliver outstanding works if the industry is to reach its full potential.

The governments of the United Kingdom and Canada jointly organized the two-day conference in which representatives of governments around the world signed a pledge to work together to protect the freedom of the media.