Media practitioners have been encouraged to strengthen their emotional intelligence, develop trusted professional relationships and use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their work and credibility.
Consultant expert Percy Amoh Yankey made the call at a media engagement organised by Ghana National Gas Company Limited (Ghana Gas) for selected journalists from the Western and Greater Accra Regions.
The event was held on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at Alisa Hotel in Accra, through Ghana Gas’s Corporate Affairs and Community Relations Office. It aimed to provide journalists with a better understanding of the company’s operations, particularly its work in health, safety and environmental sustainability.
Mr Yankey’s session focused on personal and professional development, including self-awareness, emotional intelligence, trust-building, artificial intelligence and the importance of continuous learning.
He said emotional intelligence was particularly important in journalism because practitioners regularly deal with people from different backgrounds, with varied personalities, opinions and perspectives.
Human behaviour and decision-making were often shaped by emotions, he explained, making it necessary for journalists to recognise their own emotional triggers and manage their responses. Self-awareness, he added, involved more than identifying strengths and weaknesses; it also required people to regulate their emotions and improve their conduct.
Mr Yankey warned against allowing anger, frustration or provocation to affect professionalism during interviews, panel discussions and other situations involving disagreement. Remaining calm and showing restraint, he said, were signs of emotional maturity.
He also distinguished between reacting and responding. While reactions were usually immediate and driven by emotion, responses involved reflection and sound judgment. Journalists were therefore urged to pause, assess difficult situations and choose their conduct carefully.
The consultant described social awareness as the ability to understand other people, respect their viewpoints and form healthy relationships. He advised journalists to avoid making quick judgments and to approach their interactions with patience, understanding and respect while maintaining professional standards.
AI as a support tool
Mr Yankey said social capital, built through familiarity, mutual respect and trust, could create opportunities for career development. He cautioned that damaged credibility was difficult to restore and urged journalists not to sacrifice their values for short-term gains.
Reputation, he said, influenced how colleagues, sources, institutions and the public viewed and engaged with a professional. For journalists, credibility was especially important because public confidence relied on the accuracy, fairness and integrity of their work.
On AI, Mr Yankey encouraged practitioners to learn how to use available tools to increase productivity. AI could help with interview transcription, translation, research, content adaptation, generating interview questions and organising information for news production.
He said transcribing lengthy interviews was one example of a repetitive task that AI could speed up, giving journalists more time for demanding reporting work. However, the usefulness of the results depended partly on the clarity of the instructions and context provided by users.
He stressed that AI should support, not replace, professional judgment. Journalists remained responsible for checking facts and sources, ensuring fairness and accuracy, obtaining consent and protecting confidential information before publishing AI-assisted material.
Mr Yankey also called for continuous learning through reading, research, practical experience and guidance from experienced professionals. Technology could make information easier to access, he said, but could not replace the effort needed to develop knowledge, critical thinking and expertise.
He added that career progression depended on technical ability as well as integrity, personal values, relationships and adaptability. The engagement formed part of Ghana Gas’s stakeholder relations programme, which also covered its health and safety measures, environmental sustainability initiatives and community-focused interventions.
