The
Role of the Media
SLAJ, he noted, is trying to address some of these problems by encouraging and supporting journalists to be real watch dogs of society and live up to their ethics. He complained, however, that society continues to blame the media for the problems of the country for the past 20-30 years. It might be true that some have contributed to or been a part of the problem, but instead of just complaining something should be done to help them. As a result of all this stigmatisation, SLAJ is encouraging newspaper houses to pay their journalists decent living salaries so they can stop taking bribes, report stories objectively and work toward a corruption free society. Mr Karim-Sei also stressed the need for more training in analysis of issues for their journalist. The media would like to contribute effectively but they lack the knowledge and depth on a lot of national issues. He concluded by challenging all journalists to play its part and accurately report corruption within and outside the media, to work with the ACC to build a corruption-free society. He assured the audience that the media will continue to play its role as a watchdog in society. Mr. Collier in response agreed that the media
cannot continue to bear the brunt of the blame, though he stressed
that the level of investigative journalism must be raised. “The
problem of corruption is systemic, and we all have an obligation
to envision what we want to see for the future. We must be more
objective and creative, and intellectual in our approach rather
than psychological and emotional.”
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Mr.
Karim Sei first apologised for the unavailability of the SLAJ
President, Mr. Ibrahim Kargbo, who was supposed to have made the
presentation, but had to travel out of the country on short notice.
He thanked NAG for extending the invitation to their organization
He believed that journalist have a critical role in ensuring accountability
and transparency in government, since they are expected to inform
the public accurately and objectively in areas concerning corruption
and lack of accountability. But, he admitted, the majority of
media practitioners remain ill-equipped intellectually, morally,
and economically to play this role. Many of them are not professionally
trained, seriously impacting their actions, decisions, and analyses
of issues. As a professional group, they are required to keep
to the ethics of their profession. Sometimes, the media has become
part of the corruption problem that pervades the system. Most
are not paid sufficiently by their managers, and thus resort to
compromising their ethics by accepting money from private interests
to write articles. 