Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, a presidential aspirant of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has advised journalists to broaden their professional skills to surmount emerging challenges in the journalism field.

He observed that traditional media, which included television, radio and newspapers, had been under attack by new media through social media and online engagements.

Hence practitioners needed to professionally upgrade themselves to be more proficient and efficient to compete favourably with the new media, which were gradually taking over the traditional media.

Mr Dwumfour gave the advice at meeting with members of the Bono Regional Branch of the Association at Abesim near Sunyani to solicit their votes in the impending national and regional executives’ election, scheduled for Friday, June 24 this year.

He urged journalists to be ready to build their professional capacities to constantly remain relevant in society.

Mr Dwumfour promised that under his administration, members of the Association would have equal opportunities to attend training programmes and workshops locally, as well as exchange programmes internationally, to equip them with knowledge in modern journalism trends.

Security and welfare of members would be prioritised under his administration where they would enjoy insurance and scholarship packages to practice freely without fear and panic, he said.    

Mr Dwumfour said retired members would not be sidelined because under his tenure, the Association would tap into their rich experiences in its professional development programmes whilst their welfare would be enhanced to make lives more comfortable.

He promised to assist regional branches to either build or rent offices to strengthen branch activities to make the Association more visible for greater impact on society.

Some of the members, at the meeting, expressed concern over the presence of charlatans in the profession who parade themselves as journalists, thereby tarnishing the reputation of members, and appealed to the Association to take steps to sanitise the system to regain the respect of the Association. 