#PressFreedomDayOnGMABC: Journalism is the path of service – GIBA

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President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, says journalism is not the path to wealth.

According to him, most persons practicing journalism find themselves on the career path out of passion and not because of personal gains.

“People go into journalism out of passion but others don’t. If you focus on getting into journalism to make money then I don’t think you’ll make it. You make money in business. Journalism is a passion and it is a good route to make an impact and serve the people but not an avenue to make money,” he explained.

Speaking to Samuel Eshun on a discussion to celebrate World Press Freedom Day dubbed; ‘Is Journalism Under Surveillance?’ on e.tv Ghana, he disclosed some great and passionate journalists have won awards for great pieces on slim budgets.

The GIBA President called on media owners to pay journalists well and also provide them with avenues to flourish and evolve.

“Their pay should be adequate to motivate them to do their work and the engagement must be there and sustained as we cannot do without journalists.”

This year’s World Press Freedom Day theme “Journalism under digital siege,” spotlights the multiple ways in which journalism is endangered by surveillance and digitally-mediated attacks on journalists, and the consequences of all this on public trust in digital communications.

The latest UNESCO World Trends Report Insights discussion paper “Threats that Silence: Trends in the Safety of Journalists,” highlights how surveillance and hacking are compromising journalism. Surveillance can expose information gathered by journalists including from whistle-blowers, and violates the principle of source protection, which is universally considered a prerequisite for freedom of the media and is enshrined in UN Resolutions. Surveillance may also harm the safety of journalists by disclosing sensitive private information, which could be used for arbitrary judicial harassment or attack.