MEDIA'S DAY OF HONOUR

LAST Saturday, Ghanaians from all walks of life joined their counterparts from other parts of the continent to celebrate excellence in journalism at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra.
Among those in the packed-to-capacity hall were President J. A. Kufuor, Ministers of State, media practitioners and business executives.
The event, the 13th since it was first organised in 1995 in Ghana, is the brain child of Mr Edward Boateng, the Chief Executive of Global Media Alliance, supported by CNN and MultiChoice.
The Daily Graphic associates itself with the sentiments expressed by the speakers at the awards night that the time had come for journalists on the continent to highlight the success stories of Africa to motivate our people to give of their best.
We are tired of the negative stories about the continent, although it must be admitted that the actions and inaction of leadership in all sectors are not helping to project a positive image of Africa.
The task of disseminating information to our people in order to give them knowledge and enlightenment must be a very challenging task because journalists on the continent traverse dangerous terrain in their efforts to share with the world the progress being made in Africa.
However, the media cannot sweep under the carpet some of the negative occurrences on the continent, for they have the responsibility to mirror and inform society, in much the same way that the media have to promote African values and norms.
With the changes on the media landscape brought about by the advent of new media, such as online and mobile phones, readers and audiences are able to access content with less difficulty.
The Daily Graphic believes that the CNN/MultiChoice African Journalists Awards will serve as an eye opener to all journalists to pay greater attention to the basic concerns of the people, with the view to finding solutions to them. That way, the media will become agents of change.
Increasingly, governments are acknowledging the critical role of the media in promoting good governance and the protection of civil liberties, albeit at a slow pace.
It is in this vein that we welcome President Kufuor’s call on the media to play a more critical role in Africa’s quest to achieve good governance on the continent.
We believe that the awards platform offers African journalists the best opportunity to constantly review the way they practise their profession, bearing in mind that the celebrated works will always be those that follow the canons of journalism of being fair, accurate and balanced in their reportage.
It is only by this conscious effort that the stories of our journalists will “place the interest of their societies first and in their proper perspectives of their evolution and development”.
The Daily Graphic commends, first, all the nominees for the international recognition, but more especially all the award winners.
We toast particularly the Zimbabwean journalist, Hopewell Rugoho-Chin’ono, for winning the CNN/MultiChoice Best African Journalist Award, despite the difficult circumstances in which media practitioners in that country as it is in many other African countries, are working.
The Daily Graphic also salutes Israel Laryea of Joy FM for making Ghana proud.
We hope that the awards will spur the African media on to new heights to lead in the crusade of holding public office holders accountable for their actions because the people of Africa deserve better.