President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Affail Monney, has made a strong case for journalists calling on media owners to pay their journalists well.
He said underpaid journalists could easily be compromised in line with their work hence should be paid well.
He stated that underpaid journalists are a threat to democracy.
Speaking at the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) conference in Accra, Mr Monney the poor remuneration for journalist saying their work is dangerous but are less paid or not even paid at all by some media houses.
He said, “… even the slave wages of journalists are in arrears and in scenarios tearfully painful to recall, some journalists are not paid at all.”
Mr Monney said the situation did not justify the proneness of any poorly paid, heavily owed or zero-salaried journalist to be cheaply bought, easily compromised, or willfully become chief of mischief.”
He asked journalists everywhere to rise and fight against the harsh conditions, which inhibited their work and imperilled their lives because an attack on a single anywhere is an attack everywhere.
He called on Civil Society, democracy lovers, traditional rulers, reverend ministers, revered imams, and media consumers to fight against impunity and attacks against journalists.
“We are fully aware that journalism is risk-prone, but not cash-rich profession. However, the vertiginous rise in the number of at-risk journalists in Africa, the lion-like savagery and animalistic abuse of their rights are unacceptable.
In this regard, we welcome the policy direction of the Biden administration to sharpen its focus on press freedom and the preponderance of threats against journalists in the world, including our dear continent Africa,” he said.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com
