'You can’t make money in journalism' — Speaker Bagbin

Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has called for the establishment of formal conditions of service for journalists, arguing that the financial difficulties confronting many media organisations make it difficult for them to provide adequate support for their staff.

According to him, journalism serves an important public interest and should not be viewed solely as a commercial venture, even when media houses are privately owned.

“You can’t make money in journalism. That’s why all the print media and the rest are always struggling to survive,” he said in an interview with Joy News.

Mr Bagbin said the financial challenges facing the media industry had resulted in several organisations relying on assistance from individuals and other benefactors to remain operational.

“If not because of the grace of charitable people, many of them by this time would have folded up,” he said.

The Speaker disclosed that he had personally provided financial assistance to a number of media organisations, including some that had published critical reports about him.

He cited the case of Kenneth Agyei Kuranchie, journalist and publisher of the Daily Searchlight newspaper, whom he said he supported financially despite being subjected to criticism from the newspaper.

“I used to sponsor Kenneth Agyei Kuranchie, but you tongue-lash me,” he said.

Mr Bagbin maintained that the persistent financial difficulties within the newspaper industry underscored the need for a structured framework that would help improve the welfare and conditions of service of journalists.

He said strengthening the welfare of media practitioners was important to sustaining journalism and ensuring that journalists could continue to perform their public-interest role effectively.