Innolink to sponsor best reporter(9/6/09)mp

Story: Jennifer Dornoo & Martha Asantewaa Boateng
THE Vice-President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Affail Monney, has appealed to the government to fast-track the promulgation of the Right to Information Bill to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the association.
He said the right to information bill has been in the back burner for close to seven years with no hope of its promulgation in sight.
Mr Monney said this at the presentation of a sponsorship package by Innolink Limited, a printing and packaging firm, towards the 14th GJA awards in Accra yesterday.
This, he said, would help journalists to easily access reliable information and get evidence in support of their stories.
He said the bill, which had been in the public domain for seven years, needed approval to help journalists in the discharge of their duties.
Mr Monney thanked Innolink for the sponsorship package for the Best News Reporter in the Print Media category, which was a laptop, a one-week sponsored attachment with the Avusa Group of Newspapers in South Africa, an arranged meeting with the great and renowned international icon, Madiba Nelson Mandela, and a cash prize of GH¢5000.
It also included the printing of 1000 copies of the souvenir brochure for the 60th anniversary of the GJA and 14th media awards night.
He said sponsorship packages like these would motivate journalists to deliver their best and help them rise above challenges that confronted them.
The Marketing Consultant of Innolink Limited, Mr Franklyn Benefo, said the company had acknowledged that the media had positioned itself as the voice of the ordinary man in the street.
He said the ordinary man who had never sat in the classroom could now get himself connected to a radio station to express his views on issues of national concern.
"If democracy has to succeed, the media must be empowered and emboldened to play a leading role in this endeavour," he added.
Mr Benefo said it was the desire to recognise and appreciate the young men and women who produced the raw material from which the news was manufactured, that Innolink took the decision to sponsor the Best News Reporter for Print Journalism.
"In rewarding the effort of the Best News Reporter in Print Journalism, we pay tribute to all those printers and engineers who ensure that the wheels of the printing industry turn to produce the newspaper," he stated.
He said the company believed that high-level sponsorships were what were needed to obtain the best out of journalists.