WAJA Salutes Broadcasters On World Radio Day

The West African Journalists Association (WAJA), has hailed radio broadcasters as “game changers” in tackling development issues such as poverty, disease, insurgency and illiteracy.

President of the WAJA, Mr. Peter Quaqua, in a solidarity and professional greetings to all radio producers, journalists, regulators, policy makers, listeners and users every were across the sub-region on the occasion of the World Radio Day, celebrated every February 13, said radio has remained a veritable tool for mobilization.

“We celebrate the talent and contribution of broadcasters today because radio has proven to be a game changer in a region increasingly challenged by disease, poverty, growing insurgency, illiteracy, political and economic tensions among others,” Quaqua said in a statement.

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“When it seems almost impossible to breach these challenges in the face of diversities, radio makes it all too easy to appeal directly to the senses of the people. Radio enables development, it enhances security and peace, it promotes behavioral change and education, but most of all it allows for the voices and participation of the population in the governance process.

“There is hardly any citizen – educated or uneducated; rich or poor, man or woman, young or old, politician or otherwise that do not have access to radio. Whether you personally own it or not, Radio is you. This is why you must work to make it sound better at all times. You must insist on good taste because your children also have access and do listen. You should refuse to misuse and abuse it because it could abuse you also,” the statement stressed.

According to the WAJA president, “nobody should be denied access on the radio,” and called on authorities “to stop targeting critical voices and using their power to arbitrarily shut down radio stations.”

He warned that doing so could have a chilling effect on the rest of the people wanting to be heard by way of radio, noting that, “you have a shared responsibility to make radio professional whether you are a broadcaster, an owner, an authority or a listener as the case maybe. With more speech, we can collectively respond to the radical minority who manipulate the radio to spread hate messages and war propaganda. Don’t make no mistake, “Radio is you.”

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