Graphic management brainstorms to consolidate lead
Brand editors and other editorial staff members of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) at the weekend held a brainstorming session on sustaining the relevance and market interest in the company’s newspaper brands.
The session was facilitated by the company’s Board Chairman, Professor Kwame Karikari, the Chairperson of the Editorial subcommittee, Mrs Ivy Austin, veteran journalist, Mr Cameron Duodu and former Chairman of the National Media Commission, Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng.
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The participants were taken through topics such as meeting the content challenges in a dynamic news market, characteristics a newspaper must have to stay relevant in a changing and highly competitive news market and expectations of readers, among other topics.
Opening the session, Prof. Karikari urged journalists of the company not to shy away from reporting on controversial issues in the country.
He said a national newspaper served as a book of records and reference and should, therefore, report on issues which were for the public good and in the national interest.
He asked journalists of the company to pay particular attention to issues which affected the daily lives of Ghanaians.
That, he explained, would maintain the relevance of the newspaper to the people, adding that the GCGL’s role had been to provide leadership in the newspaper industry.
Cameron Duodu
For his part, Mr Duodu described journalism as an ‘adventure’ hence the need for journalists to venture into discovering issues, particularly the kind of journalism which had an impact on society.
He cited the story of a midwife in Aowin in the Western North Region who had expressed worry about babies being born without eyes, limbs among other deformities due to the negative impact of illegal mining in the area and wondered why that issue had not received more attention from journalists.
“This is a matter of life and death. We are being confronted with a future where water bottling companies will become richer because all our sources of water would have been destroyed by illegal mining. What would you tell our grandchildren if they ask what you did about this as a journalist,” he asked.
He emphasised that journalists had a moral obligation to serve the nation.
Mr Duodu, who is a former Editor of the Daily Graphic, reminded participants that “journalists don’t give up no matter the challenges that come their way”.
He underscored the need for journalists to be motivated by curiosity, being factual and steadfast in the discharge of their duties.
Nana Gyan-Apenteng
Taking the participants through content creation, Nana Gyan-Apenteng reminded the team that “content was king” and that implied quality.
He said content creation was a key element for a newspaper to remain relevant in any society and that content should be planned.
That, he said, called for creativity, innovation and providing fine details, as well as background to stories.
Mrs Ivy Austin
Mrs Austin appealed to journalists to read every day in order to improve their writing skills.