Government Kicks Against Licensing Regime For Journalists

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Government has rejected suggestions that journalists should be licensed.

Some media watchers believe that the current free for all regime for journalists contributes to the falling standards of the profession.

The issue resurfaced in Parliament on Thursday when Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga threw the same question to Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

In responding, the Minister said licensing journalists will be practically impossible thus periodic training is a solution to the excesses in the landscape.

“Mr. Speaker, it will raise another question of what specification we are talking about. It is the specification for Public Relation or Journalists. The practice of journalism falls under the legal umbrella of freedom of expression. So it will be difficult to seek to legislate that if a person is not certified he cannot practice journalism,” he disclosed.

According to the Minister, he practiced for close to a decade without any education but with help of training on the job he was able to excel.

“Journalism today has gone to the extent that we have citizen journalists so will the certification also be extended to that person before he or she practice as a journalist?” he quizzed

“So Mr. Speaker, what we did at the policy level was to bring all the stakeholders together to ask whether we can put together various training programs through the media enhancement program. We will not subscribe to a certification of journalists,” he added.

By: starrfm