By Joyce Gyekye
The Frimpong-Manso Institute (FMI), a non-partisan, research-focused and solutions-oriented think tank, has entreated the government and private employers to upgrade the salaries and working conditions of journalists.
In a statement by the Institute on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day last Friday, it said the best form of appreciating the sacrifices of journalists will be motivating them to scale up professional standards and contributions to democratic good governance.
The statement said that though journalists constitute the fourth estate of the government, they are the least paid as compared to other arms of government like the executive, legislature, and judiciary. It added that despite their endless working hours and the enormous risks they face constantly, many of them earn below the minimum wage.
The FMI stated that, in some instances, their meagre salaries are in arrears, and in the worst-case scenarios, a significant percentage of them are not paid at all, thus festering mediocre outputs and ethical misconduct, which in turn poison the entire fabric of society.
Despite that, the FMI commends journalists for their fearlessness and resilience in the midst of difficulties in executing their responsibilities by holding duty bearers to account, exposing acts of corruption, and oiling the wheels of democracy.
