The main challenges of journalism are that most people do not see it as a profession but rather an occupation. Some people are just writers and it doesn’t mean they are journalists in that anyone who wants to be a journalist must be trained and must attain either a Diploma or Degree in Communication studies to be able to be called a journalist. Just like other professions like Doctors, lawyers and so on, you have to earn a Bachelors degree and go through the various trainings, programmes and certification.
All this started after Albert read “Grouping for ethics in Journalism” authored by Ron F, Smith. There he read that in the United states, only a third of Americans think reporters care anything about the people they report on, about 73 percent think the media do not respect the privacy of others, nearly half of the public is unwilling to call journalists “moral”, more than half think reporters abuse their constitutional privileges and about half think reporters do not get their facts right while others think the media cover up their own mistakes. The basis for the judgment is that in order for journalism to be treated as a profession, it has to go through due process.
The time has come for us to begin differentiating real journalism from talented writers, orators and prhotographers. The ideology that anybody who is talented enough to write well and talk well or look good on TV screen, qualifies to be a journalist or a media practitioner needs to be looked at again because it has led to the emergence of many irresponsible people calling themselves journalists and are mostly untrained.
With respect to the actual work, the writer compared findings from the United States about public beliefs that US journalists are arrogant and ruthless. Since he did not have the resources to conduct a nationwide research here in Ghana, he converted the findings into interview questions and asked people he met on the streets of Accra. The inefficiency of resources is however a challenge in Journalism.
Looking at his work critically, it shows that journalism generally has challenges just like any other profession. The general stand remains that journalism is an occupation and not a profession with the dominant reason being that its practice does not necessarily require pre-requisite training and so no one can be arrested for claiming that he is a journalist as he would, if he claimed he were a doctor or lawyer.
However, this is an important piece to me because it forms part of my course and it figures to me the challenges journalism has as a profession.
The writer goes further to explain, giving instances to other professions such as the doctor and lawyer where they either attain Bachelors, in order to be addressed as such.
He also suggested that being a member of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) should be made mandatory such that upon graduating from Journalism school, every journalist automatically becomes a member. Until journalism is given the respect it deserves, ethical concerns should be forgotten about.
In conclusion, journalism has so many real challenges which when looked at, can help journalists with their profession and even clear the perception the “Journalism doesn’t pay” and begin to differentiate real journalism from talented writers, orators and photographers. Journalism can be made a profession but it starts from somewhere.
“Until journalism is redefined and given the importance it deserves, ethical concerns should be forgotten about. The real challenge of journalism and media practice in Ghana does not lie in the unethical behaviors of journalists. The real challenge lies in our general perception about journalism and our definition of what true journalism should be. Page 21, Daily graphic”
