As the world marks World Radio Day on 13 February 2023 under the theme ‘Radio and Peace’, which highlights the role of radio in encouraging peace and avoiding conflict, senior lecturer of communication at the Ghana Institute of Journalism Dr. Timothy Quashigah has warned that it is dangerous for anybody to work as a radio broadcaster without professional training.
A celebrated former broadcaster, Dr. Quashigah, told Johnnie Hughes on 3FM Sunrise Morning Show that the poor standard of radio in Ghana is not due to pluralism but the lack of proper understanding and professional training. “It’s not about multiplicity, it is rather the rate at which we think we can own radio stations without seeking to have knowledge. Anybody who is on radio without training is a danger to society” he told 3FM Sunrise.
Dr. Quashigah shares the view that media pluralism should rather offer a lot more competition than lowering the standards. He advised that media houses should on their own accord put in place someone to serve as an internal ombudsman whose job is to train the people on the job.
“I believe in training, consistent training of people and retraining. I think we can do that because seriously speaking we wouldn’t have been here if we had not welcomed media pluralism. I think the problem is not about how many radio stations; it is not about how many television stations but I think that people are simply not ready to invest in training” Dr. Quashigah said.
The renowned broadcaster and journalism lecturer questioned why there are no trainers in most media firms and why media organizations are not reaching out to experienced broadcasters to help train their staff.
“A few times that I have been called to train people for some few radio stations, you go there and they are simply not ready to sit in on the lectures. One time I was taking a pay cheque for the work I went to do and I was unhappy to take the cheque because the people were simply not ready to be trained. They would walk in and walk out” he expressed his disappointment.
He also added that it is also true that some owners of radio stations might not entirely have an idea of what kind of standards they should have. Unlike the BBC and a few local stations that have their own standards, most of the media outlets in Ghana have no standards.
By Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana
