Kwesi Pratt Warns: “Journalism Is Not an Attention Contest”
Veteran media practitioner and Managing Editor of The Insight, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has cautioned journalists and media organisations against reducing journalism to a race for attention, stressing that the profession’s core duty is to determine what the public needs to know.
Speaking at the 77th anniversary symposium of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in Accra last Wednesday, Mr Pratt — who also founded Pan African Television — said journalism must be anchored in professional judgement at a time when digital platforms reward controversy, outrage and sensationalism.
“The journalist’s task is not simply to maximise attention, but to determine what the public needs to know,” he said.
He warned that the obsession with speed in the digital era often undermines accuracy, noting that being first to publish does not guarantee relevance or impact.
“A journalist could be the first to publish a story and still be wrong, while another could publish later and produce the most important story of the day. The internet rewards speech. Journalism requires judgment.”
Mr Pratt urged media organisations to uphold the standards that distinguish journalism from general online content and resist pressures from digital immediacy that compromise credibility. He said the central challenge of modern journalism had shifted from access to information to verifying truth in an oversaturated information environment.
He outlined five pillars of media credibility: accuracy, verification, fairness, courage, and investigative scrutiny of powerful individuals and institutions.
Mr Pratt reminded journalists that Ghana’s media tradition is deeply intertwined with the country’s political evolution. The GJA, founded on August 15, 1949 as the Africa Press Association, emerged during a period of intense political transformation in the Gold Coast.
He stressed that the press was never a passive observer of Ghana’s history but an active participant in the struggle for self‑determination.
“History matters. Journalism in Ghana did not begin as a profession concerned only with reporting what happened yesterday.”
He said preserving that legacy requires constant reflection on whether journalism is fulfilling its democratic and national responsibilities.
Citing the 1992 Constitution, he noted that while the media enjoys freedom and independence, it also bears the responsibility of holding government accountable.
“Press freedom without responsibility can become reckless, and responsibility without freedom can become submission.”
Mr Pratt also interrogated the influence of ownership, financing, advertising and political affiliations on editorial autonomy, arguing that the absence of state censorship does not mean freedom from external pressure.
He criticised media houses that use social media popularity as a hiring metric.
“Some TV stations won’t employ presenters who don’t have a certain number of Facebook followers. That is a complete affront to our standards. They should bow their heads in shame.”
The veteran journalist urged media institutions to reassess representation in national news coverage, noting that ordinary citizens — farmers, market women, fishermen, educators, health workers, unemployed youth and communities — are often sidelined.
“These people are not merely background scenario to the national story. They hold the country in place.”
He said journalists must recover “the responsibility to listen, not only the ability to speak,” and pay attention to citizens who do not hold press conferences and whose lived experiences are often reduced to statistics.
“If journalism is serious about telling the people’s story, it must go where the people are.”
GJA President Albert Kwabena Dwumfour called for mutual commitment between journalists and the association’s leadership to uphold standards that sustain media credibility.
He said the GJA must remain a source of professional development, guidance and protection, but journalists must also uphold the standards that make credibility possible.
“The association cannot defend the credibility of journalism if journalists themselves are unwilling to uphold the standards that make that credibility possible.”
Mr Dwumfour emphasised that the GJA leadership are “custodians, not owners” of the institution, with a duty to strengthen it for future generations. For 77 years, he said, the association has defended press freedom, advocated for journalists’ safety, and provided training nationwide.
He urged members to embrace ethics as the association navigates challenges posed by digital media and artificial intelligence.