President lauds media for vibrancy
President Nana Addo Dankwa Addo Akufo-Addo described the country’s media space as vibrant in its diversity, saying it is the very foundation of Ghana’s growing democracy and open society.
“I will hesitate to accept any situation that looks for uniformity in the media,” he said.
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He said such diversity balanced the equation, adding that “our society and our nation will be the loser if we try to impose any uniformity in the media space”.
President Akufo-Addo said this when some leading members of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), led by its outgoing President, Mr Affail Monney, and some Journalist of the Year award winners paid a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House.
They were there to thank the President for honouring an invitation to attend the international conference of the Federation of African Journalists in Accra recently.
In the GJA delegation were its Vice-President, Ms Linda Asante Adjei; the Treasurer, Mrs Audrey Dekalu; the 2018 Journalist of the Year, Ms Doreen Hammond, who is the Editor of The Mirror, and the 2017 Journalist of the Year, Mr Kwame Sefa Kayi, who hosts ‘Kokrokoo’, a morning show on Accra-based Peace FM.
Diversity
President Akufo-Addo said even though some people had tried to have uniformity in the operations of the media in other parts of the world, it had not worked because “we think differently and the media reflect the way the people think”.
He expressed appreciation for the media pluralism in the country, saying the free, vigorous and diversified media had even become stronger in the country.
The President said even though a section of the media was engaged in demonising him, he still supported media pluralism, since others were singing his praises for the laudable performance of the government.
Request for vehicles
He acceded to the request by the GJA to honour four previous journalist of the year winners who, till date, had not received the reward of vehicles for their award.
President Akufo-Addo said in so far as the current winner had got his vehicle, “I think there is the need for equity by ensuring that the past winners also receive theirs. Very soon, we will make sure the four past winners who are on my list are also duly honoured”.
He said the prevailing harmony that existed between the government and the media should not be misconstrued as government buying the latter.
“I don’t believe that the Ghanaian press is buyable; and I am not interested in buying the Ghanaian press. I am interested in having a press that can serve the larger society and play its role in building a strong democratic Ghana,” the President said.
Concerning a request for a new media centre to replace the existing Press Centre, President Akufo-Addo urged the leadership of the GJA to commence discussions with the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, on the matter.
Responding to a demand for a stimulus package to cushion the media against the effects of the COVID-19, as well as tax waivers, the President said the issues would be addressed after holding discussions with the Finance Minister.
Appreciation
Mr Monney expressed appreciation to the President for donating a VW vehicle to the Journalist of the Year 2020 and a pledging to present same to the four past award winners.
According to him, all media houses in the country were reeling under the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, hence the proposal that a stimulus package be extended to them in the form of waivers in regulatory fees for the electronic media for a year, as well as corporate tax on the wages of media practitioners for three months.
Mr Monney also called for the injection of GH¢5 million into the operations of the private media to help them recover.