The Ashanti Regional Chapter of the Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA), has appealed to young journalists to emulate virtues left behind by their predecessors.
They were also urged to uphold professional ethics in the discharge of their duties as they served the nation.
Mr Kingsley E. Hope, Chairman of the GJA Regional Chapter, said journalists had an instrumental role to play in the development of the society, hence, the need for them to be hard-working, truthful and fair.
He was addressing GJA members and veteran journalists in Kumasi, at a get-together organized by the Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), in honour of Mr Kwaku Osei Bonsu, the immediate-past acting Head of Editorial of the Agency.
Mr Osei Bonsu, who officially retired from active public service on July 22, this year, had been working with GNA for a period spanning more than two decades.
He emerged as the winner of the ‘Dr. G. T. Anim Award for Ethics in Journalism’, at the 24th edition of the GJA Awards, held in Accra in 2019, and aimed at honouring outstanding journalists in Ghana.
He was also the Presidential correspondent for the Agency during former President John Agyekum Kufour’s Administration. “You have motivated, inspired, trained and professionally guided us in the field of journalism.
“Your contribution to the professional development of both senior and junior staff is very much appreciated,” the citation read.
Mr Osei Bonsu thanked the GNA Regional Office for the honour done him. He advised the media to look out for the public interest and not partial interest, in their coverage of the December General Election.
This, he said, was critical to upholding multi-party democracy and peace in the country, and advised that journalists “should not allow their selfish interest to cloud their sense of judgment.”
Mr Sebastian R. Freiku, a veteran journalist and editor of ‘The Chronicle’, commended the retiring GNA Chief Editor for his dedicated services to the nation.
The programme had as Chairman, Mr Francis Kwarteng, former Regional Manager of the GNA, who retired in 2003, after more than three decades of active service with the Agency.
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