Journalism profession and training in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article is a descriptive and analytical account of journalism practice and professional training in Ghana. It assesses some of the factors which have affected the development of the profession in that country. It offers a brief history of journalism in Ghana and reports among other things that there are about 650 journalists in the country, 467 of whom are employed by state-owned media organisations like the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and the Ghana News Agency, and by the New Times and the Graphic Corporation, Ghana's two major newspaper establishments. According to the article, the journalism profession in Ghana is a male-dominated profession; only 13.3% of the 467 journalists in Ghana are women. The article also reported that there are two journalism training Institutions In Ghana, and that the main policy objective of journalism training in Ghana is to produce professionally trained personnel to operate and manage the country's mass media. It concludes by noting that journalism education in Ghana does not appear to be based on any specially-recognised state policy or integrated national development planning.