Newspapers, public holidays and our reading culture
“Were it left to me to decide whetter we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” - Thomas Jefferson (1786/88) Third President of USA (1801-09).
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One issue that has been of concern to me over the years has been the attitude of Ghanaians to reading newspapers, magazines and other periodicals. I have come to realise that many Ghanaians are lazy when it comes to reading of newspapers.
No doubt Ghanaians, like other people the world over, would like to know what is happening around them. However, to get information as to what the news is, many Ghanaians would prefer to listen to radio or watch television or rely on rumours.
Listening to radio or watching television doesn’t take too much time. Moreover, one can do this while engaging in other activities like driving or cooking. But not so with newspapers where one has to concentrate to be able to follow what one is reading.
I must admit, however, that there are many Ghanaians who cannot do without reading newspapers. They want to see their newspapers first thing in the morning and go through each one of them before they leave for work. Those who would like to get to office on time will first call for their newspapers as soon as they enter their offices and go through the papers before they settle down to work.
If this is so, why should anyone say Ghanaians do not like reading newspapers, which one can call the recording of events that will one day serve as history?
I do not want anyone to accuse me of a blanket charge that Ghanaians are lazy when it comes to reading newspapers and news magazines. I,however, have my reasons for the stand I have taken.
First, anybody who has lived outside Ghana or travelled to other parts of the world will realise that Ghana is probably the only country or one of the few where newspapers do not appear on the newsstands on statutory public holidays such as Christmas / New Year and Easter.
Then second, since independence 60 years ago, no newspaper company has succeeded in coming out with a paper strictly for Sunday reading. What I mean to say is that no newspaper comes out on Sundays.
Third, we are just not interested in news magazines. In other words, there has never been any news magazines produced by Ghana for the reading pleasure of Ghanaians since independence.
The only time Ghana had a news magazine worth its name was in the 1970’s when a group of academics and intellectuals at the University of Ghana came out with the popular Legon Observer.
Edited by the late and beloved Prof. PAV Ansah, who once headed the University of Ghana’s School of Communications, it sold like hot cake as it was the lone voice in the fight against military dictatorship.
Since the demise of the Legon Observer after a few years in circulation, Ghana has never been able to produce any news magazine to tell the Ghana story, whether in politics, economics, commerce, entertainment or sports to mention a few, in details.
Probably I was lucky to have had the opportunity to live in Nigeria where I plied my profession as a journalist in the 1980s and 1990s and came face to face with a plethora of newspapers and magazines, a really far cry from what has always obtained in Ghana since we attained nationhood.
I must admit that Nigeria is a far bigger country with a far bigger population and, therefore, a bigger market for all sorts of newspapers and magazines and other periodicals on any subject one can think of, from, gender, sports and politics.
I believe it is only in size and population that Ghana is no match to Nigeria. When it comes to the number of intellectuals or the educated, Ghana, for its size cannot be said to be doing too badly, proportionally.
I wonder why Ghana for its size, population and market cannot, therefore, produce newspapers in equal proportion.
What I can say for sure, however, is that production of newspapers and magazines is a more serious business in Nigeria. All over Nigeria, at state and national levels, all sorts of newspapers and magazines are produced daily, weekly, monthly and throughout the year. In fact, there is no holiday for the newspaper vendors, and even journalists, the year round.
If you are a first time visitor to Nigeria, and no matter in which city you find yourself, you will be overwhelmed by the number of newspapers, magazines and sports papers you will find on display at any kiosk at vantage points.
One will also find vendors carrying newspapers and magazines every day of the week at street junctions serving motorists who cannot visit the kioks because of time factor.
This is the situation even during public holidays and Sundays.
The most interesting aspect of the whole story is that the cost of newspapers is higher on weekends with Sunday papers costing more than at any other day.
During my sojourn in Nigeria, I kept wondering why newspapers cost more on Sundays than at any other time. People relax at home on Sundays reading Sunday papers which are voluminous compared to newspapers that appear on ordinary days.
In all,there is no holiday for any journalist in Nigeria, whether you are working in the print or electronic media. Most journalists working with newspapers, especially those in the production sector return home in the early hours of the following morning. They are back in the office by early afternoon.
I returned to Ghana after more than 10 years stay in Nigeria to find the newspaper industry quite different. No newspapers on public holiday, especially during Christmas and Easter and no paper on the streets on Sundays.!!!
The story has been the same over the years. Journalists working on newspapers always complain of working too much and need time to rest. Not that they don’t enjoy their annual leave but once in a while they need some rest.
During Easter when newspapers are not supposed to appear on Good Friday, no journalist goes to work on the preceding Thursday, even though they return to work on Easter Monday for newspapers to appear on the streets on Tuesday.
The same thing happens during Christmas. Nobody goes to work on December 24, since newspapers don’t come out on Christmas Day and journalists and other workers report back for duty on December 26.
As for the private newspapers, they are off the newsstands till after New Year.
The argument from those who produce the newspapers, both state-owned and private ones, is that if the newspapers are produced on these special holidays there will be no vendors to sell them.
I have come to realise that vendors are very powerful in Ghana but I don’t believe they are hardworking enough. They also want to have their rest instead of thinking of how to make extra income. They appear to be the ones dictating when the newspapers would come out. They even dictate which type of stories should be on the front page. They want political stories that will sell even if they are twisted to attract readers to buy.
The same thing goes for non-appearance of newspapers on Sundays. The argument is that people go to Church, including vendors and so journalists can take a day off on Saturday so whatever happened from Friday evening should wait till Monday when the Monday papers come out.
Another interesting aspect of newspaper production in Ghana is that everybody in the production sector is in a hurry to go home. I have observed over the years that when European football matches are played in the night they are not reported immediately the following day. Readers would have to wait till the third day when radio and television would have carried the news the same night.
The question I keep on asking myself is looking at the way newspapers are kept off the streets on public holidays what would have happened if journalists and other workers at radio and television stations also decide to go on holiday on public holidays? That means there would be a complete black out and nobody in Ghana would know what is happening around him.
There is no reason why newspapers should not come out on public holidays and Sundays, if radio and television stations work on such days. Journalists must sacrifice to work on public holidays and produce the newspapers and wait to see if vendors will not come out to sell them.
I always feel sad that a paper such as The Mirror which used to be called Sunday Mirror is now simply The Mirror and comes out on Fridays. Even then in the past when it was Sunday Mirror, it used to be sold on Saturday afternoon.
Even though I will support newspapers coming out on public holidays and Sundays, I really wonder if the present trend can change any time soon.
