Has the Institute achieved its aims?
At 84 and organiser of a private correspondent school in Journalism in Becks, England, Mr Macmillan's age and experience make his comments very relevant indeed.
The occasion was the silver jubilee celebration early this month of the Institute to which Mr Macmillan was invited as guest speaker but the venue for his relevant comments was the office of the Ghanaian Times, whose editor Mr Christopher Aggrey, a pioneer student of the Institute had asked his former director to explain the extent to which Kwame Nkrumah's early post-independence political processes within which the institute was founded influenced his conduct of its affairs.
Then came this reply from Mr Macmillan: "The political situation was not the concern of the institute. Its concern was to produce properly trained journalists who could fulfil their professional responsibilities efficiently within the mass media's role in the development process of the society."
To me this question and answer exercise epitomises the crossroads at which Ghanaian journalists have diverged, much to the discredit of a profession whose ethics have been subjected to various and sometimes contradictory interpretations.
Mr Aggrey believed that the Institute was mooted by the Osagyefo to function within the framework of his post independence political process, a transitional period from a multi party system CPP/UP to one party system of government in 1961 with Nkrumah's CPP as the sole legitimate party.
RESPONSIBILITIES
This was also the era all Ghanaians were expected to support the sole party's programme of transforming the country into a society of work and happiness. In this crusade anybody who dared to challenge the party and its politics was immediately considered an enemy of the society and dealt with accordingly. The role of the journalist in all this process cannot be any other than mobilising opinion in support of the party's policies.But it was obvious that among the pioneer students of the institute were those who, like their director, Mr Macmillan visualised a professional responsibility which need not nec- essarily oblige them to help a party or government to pursue its policies. From this point of rationalisation, some journalists reserved the right to disagree with a party of government policy and to express these in their works.
But it was again obvious that the journalists in this category of orientation were up against a wall as has been proved in many instances in the history of the country's journalism. But the editor of the Ghanaian Times, Mr Christian Aggrey couldn't be wrong in his assessment of the role of the Institute. The Ghana Institute of Journalism, despite producing high calibre journalists has since its inception been operating under the Ministry of Information and has never been insulated from political patronage and direction.
With the exception of Mr Quartey, who was appointed after a competitive interview, all directors of the Institute, right from Mr Macmillan himself through to the late Mr Dove and Mr Sam Arthur were all political appointees whose stewardship was linked to the fortunes of the governments that appointed them.
The Institute has failed to adapt to the changing times and still has its unwieldy intake and diplomas regulated outside the country's Council for Higher Education. This lack of growth has detracted from its image and put more prestige on the journalism course run at the School of Mass Communication, University of Ghana, Legon.
The difficulty which graduates of the Institute face in their search for employment testify to the dwindling image of the institute.
And yet this is an institute which in the past produced good quality journalists not only for Ghana but also other West African countries: This is an enviable tradition which the institute during its silver jubilee celebrations should endeavour to uphold by introducing changes. Failure to do that will soon see the entire institute converted into a Press club.
