WAY FORWARD Some media houses will provide journalists with incentives and or bonuses if they win awards, and so forth. Media houses will also often cover costs related to court cases lodged against a journalist and or the media institution itself. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 1.3 (2006:n/a; 2008:n/a; 2011:2.2; 2013:1.9) 4.4 Journalists and other media practitioners are organised in trade unions and/or professional associations, which effectively represent their interests. Various professional associations exist in the media industry. The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is an association of journalists from across the media landscape. Defining its role and function took time, as the association debated on whether it should be a union or an association. “At end of day, it decided to remain an association, but noted that it would provide support to those who want to unionise.” Panellists were divided as to whether the GJA is really representative of journalists. “On general matters, such as policy, it is representing journalists.” “But it is not proactive! It is very reactionary in how it represents journalists.” Panellists also noted that “some believe that GJA panders to political leadership.” Some media houses, such as the GBC, the Daily Graphic and The Ghanaian Times, have in-house unions, and “since they had unions already, they were not interested in joining on to another, more representative union.” 64 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER GHANA 2017