THERE WILL BE INK - Initiative for Policy Dialogue

Amos Safo, editor-in-chief at the public interest newspaper Public Agenda, also found the trainings tobe extremely valuable: “there is always improvement when someone goes out for training.” Safoadded that after his reporters have completed trainings he gives them new roles and responsibilitieswithin the news organization.While the Ghana researcher interviewed only three newspaper editors, it seemed that most editorswere happy to send their best reporters out for trainings (whereas our researcher had suspected theopposite might be the case), and see the trainings as valuable opportunities to build theirnewsroom’s capacity and the skills sets of their journalists. Alimi said that an additional benefit tothe trainings was that he encouraged journalists that had attended the training programs to help trainother journalists in the newsroom in their new skills. It seemed that the training programs affectedmore journalists than those who were able to attend them.The impact of trainings on journalist careersIn terms of the impact these programs had on the journalists’ careers, the majority of journalistsindicated that they had received some sort of promotion as a result of their attending the training.However, these promotions did not necessarily result in substantial or any pay increases, if pay wasincreased at all – sometimes only their titles were changed. Several journalists said they werepromoted from reporters to editors or assistant editors. Our researcher also noted an obvious trendwhereby the most senior reporters at a given publication had also attended the most trainingprograms, with the exception of some of the most senior editors at the larger publications, whoseemed to have entered journalism before such training opportunities were available. Interestingly,this generational difference within the newsrooms meant many of the younger journalists, with allthe trainings under their belt, felt that they had much more knowledge and specialization than theireditors. Inevitably, this led to some conflict whereby the younger journalists (with all this newexpertise) felt stymied by their more traditional editors.Given that journalism is a poorly regarded career in Ghana, we were also interested in finding outwhether journalists were using the training programs as stepping stones to new, more lucrative andstable careers. Several ex-journalists told our researcher that training programs had improved theirnon-journalism careers, but the programs had had no direct impact on them getting out of the mediaindustry. Rather, these journalists said that the trainings led to promotions and greater opportunities,which in turn led to their gaining more contacts and visibility, which ultimately probably helpedthem find other employment. That said, it did not seem that journalists were “using” the trainingprograms to find better jobs. Rather, the problem seems to be that journalism, as a career, is notmeeting the needs of many of its best practitioners.Workshop training programsShort-term training programs or workshops are quite common in Ghana. Usually organized by anorganization with a stake in a particular issue, these workshops tend be quite partial and specific.However, some organizations, like the Third World Network (TWN) regularly organize journalistworkshops that cover a range of issues. While they certainly have express advocacy goals, likeeducating journalists as to a particular environmental problem or to train journalists on the effects ofcyanide used in mining areas, organizations like TWN have gained credibility from journalists fortheir thorough approach to the issues and their availability as a resource on certain issues.– 53 –