On behalf of the executive of the GJA I extend a special welcome to you all . Some of you had a late invitation but the promptitude with which you've responded shows your commitment to media development and love for the GJA. We are grateful indeed.
Let me place it on record that the Code we are about to launch would have remained a hollow dream without the Federich Ebert Foundation which provided the financial foundation for the workshop in Ho last year where the new Code was drafted as well the validation workshop in Accra where the Code was fine tuned. FES and Frirtz, thanks and God bless you.
Of course we also owe a huge debt of gratitude to Dr Kweku Rockson, our consultant for displaying a boundless energy budget ,rich intellectual capacity and iron clad commitment to the Code revision project.
We are grateful to Nana Kwesi Gyan Appenteng, Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh, the accomplished ethicist and columnist , Mrs Gina Blay, the best female publisher in Ghana, Kwame Ahiabenu, the new media expert and teacher, Fortune Alimi, the leading private newspaper editor in Ghana and Dr Doris Yaa DARTEY, a veritable institution of media training and development . Their input is what we are celebrating today.
To Innolink , our printers verbal expression is not enough to portray our gratitude for extravagant generosity . For years with unfailing regularity, innolink has been printing all our brochures and other materials free of charge. It therefore came as no surprise when they offered to bear the cost rolling out the new code.
A local proverb has it that the plurality of batakari makes it difficult to tell the difference between a genuine and fake one. Contextually , the proliferation of media outlets and practitioners poses a challenge to the ordinary media consumer to distinguish between a professional and someone who masquerade as such. But by their fruit of ethical misconduct we know them.
The new Code has come at the right time to help cure the skyrocketing disease of ethical travesty across the media spectrum . Many are those who regard our own code as a proforma ritual of little or no importance . In reality the respect for the basic principles which underpin our profession is what separates a serious journalist from a fake one. It's also true that producing a code is one thing. Implementing its content is another . We shall therefore not flinch in mobilizing resources to capacitate as many practitioners as possible so as to internalize the code and reflect its content. This is the only way to justify the huge intellectual and financial investment in the code . The GJA urges all categories of journalists to regard the code as their professional bibles and Qurans.
Devoid of any campaign drive , the new code is one of the legacies we bequeath to the media fraternity . And it's the obligation of all to cherish it's by way of faithful implementation .
Thank you all for gracing this momentous occasion .
May the God of heaven bless us all.