As Ghana observed 2023 Globe Press Freedom Day last Wednesday alongside the rest of the globe, the topic of local journalists' pay has once again come to the forefront.
Behind the elegant setting of the durbar in Accra, where Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, a former president of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), and Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, the organization's current president, spoke movingly against media politicization, the main concerns of the practitioners lay elsewhere.
In a statement issued to mark the occasion and signed by its president, Andrew Edwin Arthur, the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) stated: "It is the association's and its members' desire that the government reconsider or re-strategize on its media policy, particularly the distribution of state-sponsored advertisements, so as to benefit the vast majority of the nation's media outlets.
The action "will go a long way in sustaining the Ghanaian media and saving them from eventual collapse," the statement read.
The PRINPAG statement highlighted the status of the local newspaper sector, which is now threatened by financial issues in addition to functioning as a ceremonial rite.
media environment
While several newspapers have lately folded and departed the vending area, some of the ones that are still there seem to be there more for show than for actual sales and influence.
However, those working in the electronic and print industries, both state-run and privately held, earn some of the lowest salaries in Ghana.
local circumstance
According to the Department of Information's 2023 assessment on the condition of Ghana's media, salary levels in the Ghanaian media "are generally quite low, with nearly half of the respondents (47%) earning monthly incomes of, at most, GH1,000," according to research conducted by the University of Ghana's Department of Communication Studies and the Media Foundation for West Africa.
According to the research, about half of those respondents "actually earn no more than GH 500 monthly."
"Respondents' salaries in media firms in Greater Accra and Ashanti were much greater than those in organizations outside of these two areas. Two out of every three respondents (up to 70%) who work in the other regions make less than $1,000. This is independent of their positions (such as editor, reporter, presenter, etc.), which did not seem to significantly affect their pay. This stands in stark contrast to the 26% (one in every five) respondents from Accra and Ashanti who made a comparable income, according to the study.
"The fact that payments are made quite regularly for a modest majority of individuals who earn wages, I suppose, is the silver lining." Typically, 65% of respondents (or 2 out of 3) get their paychecks on schedule each month.
"Having said that, it is concerning that up to 30% of them frequently encounter wage payment delays." When one takes into account the normally low salary mentioned, this is much more true. In other words, in addition to their comparatively low compensation, many respondents also had to deal with payment delays, according to the survey.
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