We won't compromise watchdog role-Tetteh(Centre spread) August 5, 2008

Story: Michael Donkor
THE President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Ransford Tetteh, has stated that the support of corporate institutions for the association’s annual awards ceremony will not compromise the watchdog role of the media.
He said the GJA regarded that support as a partnership between it and the corporate institutions to build a strong media to operate in the country.
Mr Tetteh said this when the Stanbic Bank presented a cheque for Gh¢5,000 to support the 13th GJA awards at a ceremony in Accra yesterday.
The amount is in support of two categories of the awards: the best columnist and the best sports writer of the year.
Mr Tetteh said it was not wrong for the business community to support the GJA, since journalists could always hold the business community responsible.
Commenting on issues raised by a section of the media over the revised election guidelines for journalists, the GJA President said the association would be the last to introduce anything that would limit the scope of journalists in the country.
He said it had been the ambition of the GJA to rather expand the scope of journalism in the country and so it would not do anything to derail that effort.
Mr Tetteh said all the GJA wanted was to ensure that there was no confusion before, during and after the general election.
He said in calling election results, media houses should ensure that it was done in a way that would not undermine the electoral system of the country.
He appealed to journalists to be mindful of their work and continue to be the shining example in Africa and the world as a whole, emphasising that the revised election guidelines were not an imposition.
The Head of Human Resource at the Stanbic Bank, Wing Commander Samuel Allotey (retd), said the bank was committed to supporting the establishment of a vibrant media in the country, saying that support was to ensure that journalists met the required standards in the profession.
He pledged the banks commitment to continue to support the GJA’s annual awards and commended the association for instituting the awards.
Wing Commander Allotey expressed the hope that the event would be a grand one.