MFWA names Philip Teye Agbove as Most Promising Young Investigative Journalist
Fastest-rising Ghanaian journalist, Philip Teye Agbove has been honoured as the Most Promising Young Investigative Journalist by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).
The young and multiple-award-winning journalist excelled at the Next Generation Investigative Journalism Fellowship (NGIJ), a training and mentorship programme organized by the media freedom advocacy organization.
He was one of the four young journalists among the 13 Fellows of the Second Cohort who were awarded citations and cash prizes at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, Accra.
Reacting to the achievement, the astute journalist said, "This honour really means a lot to me, and I am encouraged to push harder for a just society."
To his fellow journalists, he said: "Let’s be encouraged to do journalism that benefits society and holds leaders to account, not the journalism that constantly sings the praises of the rich while the poor continue to perish."
He indicated that there is an urgent need for the state to fast-track policies towards ensuring the safety of investigative journalists.
According to him, responsible journalists are born to make society better; therefore, the state must see them as partners of development by making the environment conducive for critical journalism.
"The state must not sit back and watch people threaten journalists; it's an affront to critical and accountable journalism. Journalists must be protected, especially those that risk their lives to make society better," he stated.
In furtherance, Mr. Agbove urged leaders of the country to make issues affecting the vulnerable a priority and desist from seeing responsible journalists as antagonists.
"Leaders must know they're in office to serve and not to be served, hence their ability to solve the basic issues affecting the people and be accountable to them," he stated.
He charged young journalists like himself not to allow fear or intimidation from any angle to scare them from making society better for humanity.
"They will come after you when you begin to ask them basic but critical questions yet don't relent because if you do, things will get worse," he stressed.
In conclusion, he expressed his profound gratitude to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) for the award and impactful training.
Philip Teye Agbove writes for the state-owned Ghana News Agency (GNA), corresponds for UK-based SheHub.tv and broadcasting with Radio Ada 93.3FM, Ghana’s first community radio station, based in Ada, in the Greater Accra Region.
He was also named the 2021 National Outstanding Student Journalist of the Year by the National Academy of Students' Achievement Awards Ghana (NASAAG).
He was again honoured in August this year by the International Justice Mission as the "Most Outstanding Justice Advocate" for his remarkable strides and notable success as a journalist whose contributions and passionately serve as a Justice Advocate and uses the media to contribute immensely to fighting human trafficking in Ghana.
About the Next Generation Investigative Journalism Fellowship (NGIJ)
The Next Generation Investigative Journalism Fellowship (NGIJ) is a training and mentorship programme that seeks to empower young journalists with investigative journalism skills.
The objective is to build a pool of next-generation investigative journalists who will contribute to improving lives and promoting good governance through journalism excellence.
The NGIJ programme builds the capacity of early-career journalists in the West Africa region to be able to conduct critical, high-quality, fact-based and in-depth reporting.
Every year, the fellows are recruited through a competitive process of selection, including aptitude tests and interviews.