Media Commission proposes national dialogue on GNA
The National Media Commission (NMC) has identified the need for an all-inclusive approach to address the challenges facing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) because of the enormity of the agency's challenges.
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It has, therefore, underscored the need for a national conversation on how to reform and help the agency to regain its lost glory.
Inaugurating the reconstituted governing board of the GNA in Accra yesterday, the Chairman of the Commission, Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, recommended the setting up of a committee of enquiry to examine the GNA and make recommendations that would facilitate the national discourse.
He said although the challenges confronting the agency were very daunting and showed a gloomy picture of its future, the situation was salvageable with the support of all stakeholders.
Board Members
The board is chaired by Professor Olivia Kwapong and has as its other members, Dr Sarah Akrofi Quarcoo, Mr Charles Acheampong and Mr Kofi Boakye.
The others are Ms Ellen Avorgbedor, Dr Kwame Nyamekye, Mr Albert Sam and the Acting General Manager, Mr Rex Annan.
GNA's challenges
Nana Apenteng listed the challenges of the GNA to include, inadequate financial resources, lack of logistics, lack of human resource and the requisite skills, to deliver its mandate and keep up to the growing demands of a news agency in an information society.
He submitted that in modern times the Internet had created a new way of gathering and disseminating news, and even more critical was the new mode of consuming news and information on mobile devices.
In view of these, Nana Apenteng pointed out that the challenges that the world evolving into an information society possed to the GNA was profound
“It means that GNA must be able to play its role in an even more enhanced capacity, which calls for resources such as money, equipment, better trained staff and management,” he said.
He said whether the GNA could play that role and discharge its mandate effectively, in an information society was the question the NMC and its stakeholders were faced with.
Charge
Nana Apenteng, therefore, gave the board a charge to collaborate with management to deal with the institution’s cash flow and human resource challenges in the short term.
“We are confident that the team we have put together will be able to help this institution to survive the immediate difficulties with their pool of expertise selected carefully to meet the needs of the GNA,” he said.
Talking about the lost glory of the agency, Nana Apenteng said it was the first in Sub-Saharan Africa and it served the information needs of not only Ghana but of the whole continent, especially during the latter phases of the anti-colonial struggle.
“At its height, GNA had bureaus in many places around the world, including London, New York, Lagos, Nairobi, and Beirut and was the most reliable source of African News.
Welcome address
In his welcome address, the Acting General Manager of the GNA, Mr Rex Annan, promised that notwithstanding its challenges, the GNA would continue to ensure that the public was adequately and reliably informed.
“We have looked at a number of areas for institutional improvement. first is to improve the quality of our stories, develop other channels of disseminating our news, improve on our internally generated funds and develop a comprehensive training for staff,’ he said.
He indicated that the agency still had the widest network of news and information gathering machinery across the country and will make the best use of that.
Board’s response
In her remarks, on behalf of the board members, Prof. Kwapong said time and speed were very significant in improving the delivery of the agency’s mandate. For its part, she said, the new board will prioritise ICT and other international best practices for the GNA.