His comments come in the wake of concerns raised by the General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensah Otabil, who partly strongly blamed the media for the indecency in the Country’s political discourse.
He said some journalists had sold out their conscience to politicians and were doing their bidding by promoting the politics of insults.
Speaking to Citi News on Friday March 25, Bright Blewu said the act of giving “soli” to Journalists is the motivating factor to some so-called journalists who have invaded the profession.
Some call it transportation fee, others call it facilitation fee, while the larger majority who know of it, especially those in the media fraternity, call it solidarity, or simply ‘Soli’. It is seen by a section of the public as a form of inducement that corrupts the moral fibre of journalists to skew their reportage for peoples’ paraochial interest.
Mr Bright Blewu urged event organizers to stop the practise of giving out “soli” to journalists who attend their functions.
According to him, Journalists are supposed to disseminate information to the public and not to attend functions with the sole aim of making money.
“We must stop this culture of “soli” nobody is obliged to give journalists money. I mean you(Journalists)are looking for news that is your job. But this practice has continued and people wake up in the morning and pick their bags and parade as journalists. So if this practice continues, then people will take advantage of our profession”he said.
A Communications Consultant, Dr Doris Yaa Dartey has also called for a mechanism to help purge Ghanaian Journalism of quack practitioners.
According to her, Journalism in the country has become very attractive due to the ‘soli’ canker. At a symposium organized by Journalists for Human Rights, she noted that the current profession being practised is far from what Journalism really requires of them.
“Soli is a major reason why so many people are becoming attracted to journalism not because they love journalism or can write a thing. A journalist who doesn’t write is not a journalist because the word Journalism comes from journal, you should be able to write” she emphasized.
“Now with the FM era, where anybody even when they have not brushed their teeth wake up in the morning and start running their stinking mouths of unprocessed, half baked opinions. It is about time we start interrogating who a journalist is. Even DJ’s and some sort of characters who have no profession to their name but because of an accidental proximity to a microphone we are calling all these people journalists, I feel so insulted”.
Dr Dartey condemned organizations and government agencies which she said are aiding in promoting the canker and called for a national debate on the issue.
“The event organizers, they are corrupting the media. All the companies, even government organizations they put soli in their budget. Soli is part of PR budget so we must question the government organizations who take the tax payers money and put into budget to distribute. The ministry of information and the Castle are all givers of soli” sshe noted.
Meanwhile, former first Deputy Speaker of Parliament and major shareholder of the Daily Guide Newspaper, Freddy Blay said he will not entirely condemn the act of giving “soli which is widely considered as corruption.
According to Mr Blay, he had himself on several occasions giving “soli” to some journalists. He blamed the canker on poor remuneration Journalists take in the country.
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