Soli: An Albatross hanging on journalists?

Journalists queuing for ‘small chops’ popularly called Item 13 at the Ghana International Press Center after collecting Soli. This is a common feature at many assignments.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday May 14, 2011.
For some, it is the act of giving envelopes containing money aimed at strengthening working relations between event organisers and individuals on one hand, and journalists on the other. For others, it is the exchange of money or goods between organizations and journalists at public events.

Still, other would describe it as ‘gift’ given to journalists when they cover their programmes and events.

It is referred to as Solidarity, popularly known as Soli in journalism parlance. Daily Guide is looking at this phenomena and its impact on the practice of journalism.

Whatever way it is defined or described, the act where money is received by journalists before processing stories for publication has become an albatross hanging around their necks.

The practice is beginning to raise serious ethical concerns as many believe that soli is deepening corruption in the profession.

The act clearly offends the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Code of Ethics, particularly Article 3 on professional integrity which states that: “Journalists should not accept bribe or any form of inducement to influence the performance of his/her professional duties.”

Andy Fosu of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) once noted that soli has become a ritual and common practice to the extent that the GJA and other media watchdogs will have to put up a brave fight to be able to stop it.

At the end of every event, journalists, as an act of routine, wait to collect their envelopes. The enveloped ‘solidarity’ usually ranges from as low as GH¢5 to as high as GH¢100. Television and radio crew are specially singled out and given first consideration. Then the Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times, Daily Guide and GNA are then usually attended to in that order before all the other media houses are ‘seen’ to.

Reporters, as a matter of necessity, wait around or buy time by occupying themselves by either feigning or actually conducting ‘extra’ interviews. Sometimes they seek the relative comfort of the company vehicle.

For TV crews, cameramen or technicians are normally instructed to pursue the envelope. For other media houses, journalists themselves are tasked to line up for their soli.

When the envelopes are given and the amount in them tends to be below expectation the organizers of the programme can be rest assured that it will take days or even weeks for the story to be published or broadcast. Sometimes, the story does not see the light of day.

The activities of organizations and individuals who have made it a policy not to pay soli to journalists have always suffered low patronage from media houses. The obvious is that there will be no soli so therefore there will be no need to provide coverage.

Most TV stations charge organizers before providing them coverage. Some of the radio journalists collect money with the promise of putting the payee live on air, especially during bulletins. Journalists from print media also collect soli with a promise to publish stories.

Some senior editors and journalists who seldom go out to report collect soli from organizers in advance and send junior reporters to such assignments. Because the organizers have already paid for the coverage, they treat the junior reporters with disregard or contempt.

Why do journalists collect Soli?
Soli has become endemic because most media houses do not adequately compensate their reporters or compensate them at all. Journalists, often with families and dependents, are left to rely on soli to supplement their meager incomes. The cost of traveling to and from for stories on a daily basis can quickly accumulate. There is no means or structure in place that would give journalists the option to forgo Soli.

A media study conducted by the Labour Research and Policy Institute of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) revealed in February this year that nearly half of journalists in the country are paid less than GH¢200 a month. The report titled “Wages and Working Conditions of the Media Workers in Ghana” says 44 per cent of the media workforce earn below the average income in the industry.

The report states “Low remuneration was a major challenge confronting the media industry in Ghana”. The study was based on data collected from 1000 questionnaires sent to the various media houses across the country for journalists to answer.
Citing the 2007 Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) data, the study concluded that media workers earning below the minimum wage are also earning below the national poverty line.

Records show that in most public media outlets, a journalist with a diploma certificate receives between GH¢200 and GH¢350. A reporter at GNA receives as gross salary, an amount between GH¢230 and GH¢250, whiles a journalist with the same qualification at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) receives between GH¢300 and GH¢330. At the New Times Corporation, publishers of the Ghanaian Times, a journalist receives GH¢350-420, whiles his counterpart at the Graphic Communication’s Group Limited (GCGL), is paid between GH¢400 and GH¢700.

The controversial single spine salary structure can change the circumstances of some of the journalists in the state-owned media like GBC.

The situation is more pathetic in most private media houses as some journalists receive less than GH¢100, while others receive no salary at all but are only provided with accreditation to enable them to cover events. The soli they receive at the end of events is what they take home.

Can Soli influence stories?
Media consultant Dr. Doris Dartey and Professor Audrey Gadzekpo of the School of Communication Studies are strong advocates against soli. They both agree that the GJA and other media watchdogs should deal severely with journalists found to be indulging in such acts because it undermines professional integrity.

“My position is that Soli should not be given and it should not be taken because the giving and the taking have the potential to corrupt the integrity of the mass media of communication,” Dr. Dartey tells Daily Guide.

“Yes, even if it’s just a small amount and it covers the cost of transportation. The very fact that something has exchanged hands would make the person who gave you [soli] to expect the story to be presented in a certain way that favours them. It’s a problem. Nothing should exchange hands.”

There’s this entrenched tradition, where givers think they must give because they are dealing with the media. Event organizers, public relations departments, all over – they are giving soli. Organizations put it in their budget. As a result it has become a societal problem, and like corruption in general, it is not openly talked about. It has become part of a larger picture of malfeasance in Ghana.
Boakye Dankwa Boadi, a veteran journalist and Supervising Editor of Ghana News Agency (GNA) does not support advocates against soli.

“I disagree with the proponents against soli because if we are also being truthful to ourselves, we will discover that apart from a few media houses, journalists are paid peanuts” says Dankwa Boadi, “And these young journalists do not have sufficient money to keep body and soul together.”

He continued, “So to pretend as if everything is rosy for the journalist, and therefore he or she should not go out there and take anything is assuming too much.”
However, he noted that that is not always the case, as some reporters from well paying media houses take advantage of soli.

“I know certain media houses where you pay the people so much that if I see a journalist from such a media house waiting for soli, I will see that person as being greedy” he says.

Dankwa Boadi noted that many organizations transparently budget for soli, and so it should not be regarded as illegal or corrupt.

“I know that most event organizers sit down and budget for refreshments and transport for the media anytime there is going to be a media encounter” he says, before adding “if something has been budgeted and the auditors approve of it, then it means that it’s a legitimate payment to the journalist or the media practitioner
He concluded by saying that if anyone demands your time and effort, you should be compensated for it, as long as you’re not insisting for payment.

“They have engaged your time so they give you money for your petrol. So what is wrong with the younger reporter also taking GH¢5 as a taxi fare?” he asks, “I don’t see anything wrong with that. You don’t demand it, but if they offer it to you, you accept it.”

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Information thinks soli should not be promoted in any form, stressing that it has a tendency of demeaning journalists. He advocates capacity building instead.

“If we have support we want to give for journalists let us allow them to attend programmes that build their capacity, deepens their knowledge and encourages them to specialize in various field,” he says.

He acknowledges that unqualified journalists who exploit soli have blemished media practitioners’ reputations.

“Engaging in hand outs and all of that I do not think it helps. A lot of [journalists] are very well meaning and hard working, but you allow all kinds of miscreants, people who you are not even sure are journalists they gatecrash just because of soli. It does not help.”

The GJA’s position on soli is unclear. The association does not seem to know how to go about soli taking or giving. When Daily Guide sought the views of the GJA, its President Ransford Tetteh was not definite on the association’s position.

“It is a very important question and it touches the heart of the very existence of professionalism,” states the GJA President, “We are not saying that when you do a good job and for your efforts you are given some token gesture from somebody you have worked for [that] you should not accept. We would be angles to demand those things from our members.”

He proceeded to clarify, “What we are saying is that it is awful to see journalists charging event organizers and demanding money from them. Event organizers decide who to invite. If you are not invited to an event and you decide to go because your newspaper or radio station will need the information you can do your reportage and coverage and leave without harassing people. That is what is creating a bad image for our profession.”

Perhaps most significantly, Mr. Tetteh identified the culture of giving that is inherent to Ghanaian society, especially when one comes to your place of business or abode. He stated that soli is an extension of this culture.

“Indeed we live in Ghanaian society; you know that people show appreciation. If you invite somebody to a function far away from the person’s organization and you offer him some support for transportation. I do not think it is meant to corrupt anybody.”
Mr. Tetteh was careful to differentiate between journalists who accept soli for transportation means, and those who frequent events to collect money.

“Let me add that if GH¢20 can corrupt people to do things that professionally are not required of them, then I think they are not worth becoming journalists in this country and they must reconsider their calling into the profession” he dvises, “What we are saying is that people extorting money, people blackmailing others – those ones I think we abhor and we will continue to condemn those acts.”

Mr. Freddy Blay, a former First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and a Publisher likened the issue of soli to a double-edged sword which must be handled with care.

“In some instance it could be a gift while in others it could be considered as bribe. It depends on the circumstances surrounding the giving or taking of the soli” he says.

Mr. Blay noted that it is always bad when the soli is meant to undercut the journalist’s goodwill concerning a particular story. “It is unrealistic for a journalist to say that when he or she takes Soli, it would not influence his or her way of thinking.”

Mr. Blay feels the issue of soli is systemic, stating that it would be difficult for the authorities and media employers to ban soli when they do not take steps to improve the conditions under which journalists work.

“If you are not paying journalists quiet well, their professionalism would be undermined” he explains, “I would be a hypocrite to denounce soli but journalists themselves should be able to determine whether or not taking it would promote professionalism.

“Professionalism must be determined by the journalists themselves. They are writing their own history and posterity awaits them,” Mr. Blay cautioned.

Soli and Professionalism
“Soli has demeaned our profession. People look at us and think that we are just a bunch of people walking about extorting money from people, charging on their programs and eating their food and drink - gate crashing even when we are not invited. ” Ransford Tetteh lamented.

Prof. Audrey Gadzekpo has time and again spoken against soli. She says it breeds un-professionalism. She believes an effective GJA and other regulatory bodies could make the codes of ethics more enforceable.

According to Dr. Dartey, Soli has become an “entrenched and dangerous culture.”
She highlights that the media, which is supposed to serve as a watchdog, is corrupted itself by soli.

“If we have a mass media that accepts what they call soli without feeling guilty, how would a journalist who collects soli go and criticize a public official who has collected bribes?” she asks.

She thinks the givers of soli have the intention to influence and corrupt the receiving journalist and says “I have spoken to some of the givers and their response is that but ‘if we do not give it, they would not report our stories.’ So clearly there is a problem on the giver’s side.”

She says what is happening currently in the journalism landscape in Ghana is unacceptable and adds: “I know for instance in some media houses in South Africa if you are ever caught that you collected soli you would be fired out right.”

Mr. Baokye Dankwa Boadi disagrees. He argues that he does not see anything wrong with taking money to enable you to carry yourself back to the office.

“If the organizer has made provisions for you, then of course you take it” he says.
Journalism in Ghana appears to have been reduced to a pedestrian vocation that is open for mass participation as though there are no rules or values guiding the practice.

Charlatans and pretenders, with the unflinching backing of their sponsors, find it easy to hijack the noble profession for their own parochial interests. They have succeeded in carving a certain image for the profession. This has effectively distorted the general quality and depth of journalism and leaves much to be desired.

Articles 1 of the GJA Code of Ethics enjoin journalists to respect people’s right to true information. The duty of every journalist is to write and report the truth, bearing in mind his or her duty to serve the public. The public have the right to unbiased, accurate, balanced and comprehensive information as well as to express themselves freely through the media. A journalist should make adequate enquiries and cross-check his or her facts.

What can be done?
Dr. Dartey admits the issue of Soli is a complex one and feels the givers and the takers should both wake up to the corrupting nature of soli.

She proposes that “Media houses which are not paying their journalists, maybe National Media Commission and National Communication Authority should close them down. The NMC and GJA should have a system to take care of journalists and the attempt to unionize journalists is in order.”

Due to the multiplicity of media and journalism training institutions, the industry is overrun by unaccredited or untrained reporters claiming to be a journalist.

“There are so many so-called journalists and they do not have jobs” says Dartey, “So they are also part of the problem. They have to live, so they show up at events, lie that they are journalists and they collect some of the envelopes.”

Programme organizers and Public Relations officers must also ensure they only allow invited media houses into their programmes. Strict measures such as inspection of identity cards and invitation letters should be applied in covering assignments.

The journalism that was practiced and held in high esteem some time past is no longer attractive and noble as it should be. The earlier something was done about this, the better, to save journalists and the country from this shameful episode of journalism for soli.

Deputy Minister of Information Mr. Ablakwa is hopeful that the GJA, in collaboration with stakeholders, will be able to deal with the soli issue.

He says the government is committed to supporting journalists to grow professionally. “We are setting up a media development fund. We promised it in our manifesto. We’ve already had discussions with the GJA and the National Media Commission. We are expecting that before the end of this year the fund will be established with clear criteria so that we can support journalists for further studies and encourage them to specialize in various fields. “

The GJA believes that unionizing the association to enable them to fight for better conditions of service for journalists would close the chapter of soli but can Soli taking go away when journalists get better conditions of service?