World Radio Day, Unpaid Journalists & Paid Journalism

The 2025 edition of World Radio Day (WRD) was marked yesterday February 13 under the theme “Radio and Climate Change” to highlight the way radio broadcasting can be used to set an agenda for throwing the searchlight on the issues of climate change but truth be told, very little of all that happened in Ghana.

The focus radio in Ghana was largely on the usual razzmatazz, politicking and rat race for survival to keep body and soul together.

In the humble view of THE NEW PUBLISHER, climate change issues matter but the life and wellbeing of the journalist expected to report on the climate change issues, equally matters.

When one whistle on an empty stomach, it would either not be loud enough to catch attention or it would be too brief to communicate the intended message. The gurgling noise from an empty stomach may even make the whistle inaudible.

The average journalist in Ghana is paid some monthly stipends not worth writing home about. Some take salaries below the national minimum wage. Some more are even not paid at all yet are expected to go the extra mile to put out well researched and double verified news meant to educate, inform and entertain the public.

In Ghana, both the underpaid and unpaid journalists from the radio, television or print sectors work beyond the standard 8 hours per day, five days a week. Some are not even on any form of pension scheme in preparation for retirement. They work, they live,  they retire, they die and often,  they get forgotten.

Meanwhile, professional journalism requires total dedication and a lot of sacrifices including the readiness to put oneself in danger in a quest to uncover hidden truth – expensive truth which most of the times have been hidden by the affluent and powerful.

Which soldier goes to war on an empty stomach and expects to win against a well-fed army equipped with more than enough ammunition?

As a society, we expect so much from the journalist but pretend to forget that most Ghanaian journalists do not belong to labour unions that can negotiate for fair wages on their behalf.

Hard truth is there is no standard industry rate for paying journalists in Ghana. They are mostly at the mercy and dictates of their employers who would hide behind the high cost of running media houses to justify their inability or perhaps, unwillingness to pay reasonable salaries to the very people they expect to speak truth to power and expose corrupt deals among the great, the mighty and the dangerous.

The situation is a rather complex one and has led to a hushed culture of paid journalism where news is put out for a price either in cash or in kind for all manner of consideration.

A reality most journalists lack the courage to admit because it would mean admitting to lowering professional standards or compromising ones integrity and credibility.

But how else can the challenge be resolved if the very persons it affects are unable to admit the hard truth and confront it.

Paid journalism would mean people with money would control media content – to be blunt, the rich, irrespective of their source of wealth would buy the truth.  It remains a curious mystery why even the rich, when they establish media houses, would still not pay the employed journalists well.

The proliferation of electronic and print media over the last decade has worsened the challenge for the journalism profession as it has lowered the bar some more… but that is certainly another matter for another day.