MOI Holds Development Partner's Conference On Media Support Programmes (Video+Pics)

The Ministry of Information has today held a development partner's conference aimed at media support programmes at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.

According to the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the conference, will push the development partners to coalesce around a common objective and come out with insightful ideas which will help boost the Ghanaian media.

Speaking at the conference on Monday, the Minister said "An expression used by the British MP Edmund Burke in 1778 to describe the role of the media in the Governance system, remains true centuries on. Indeed, the 4th

Estate of the realm is a major is a major influencer not just of our political and governance system but  even more importantly of value systems of the broader Ghanaian society"

He revealed that it is important for the entire society to take an interest in what mass media projects and how it in turn affects the country’s governance and socialization.

"Ghana has built for itself a robust culture of independent, free and fierce media practice since before independence. Despite the occasional sporadic incidents of media attacks and the complains about media misreportage by various segments of the society, Ghana’s media landscape continues to generally be the toast and envy of many globally"

Explaining further, the Minister for Information stressed that the Ghanaian media practice has significant challenges. 

He added that in Ghana, though it are now nearing the completion of research work to collate empirically the most recent challenges of the media.

"Acursory analysis already highlights a number of challenges that must be urgently attended to. Wikipedia’s narrative about media in Ghana among other things says — Despite its relative freedom, the media in Ghana does face some challenges. Journalists in Ghana are often poorly paid, under resourced, and often lack training. As a result, journalists in Ghana find themselves susceptible to many undesirable practices affecting the quality and altruistic nature of the work they are believed to be doing. #

He hinted that in Nigeria there is more extensive research available on media challenges.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said "It highlights poor remuneration, acts of corruption among some media

practitioners, urban elite-centered bias (increase in the gap between the urban and the rural news reportage), AND limited expertise among journalists. This is included in research done in 2015 on challenges and constraints of media in Nigeria by the researches , Kadiri Mohammed Raji and Sulemana"

The Sector Minister added that such challenges manifest in various ways in the work of the media thus misreportage, amplification of opinions that are based on limited data, defamation and a feeling of media tyranny by some segments of the society.

"In response, some have resorted to law suits, public call outs of the media and sometimes campaigns to undermine the work of the media. At other times some have resorted to limited supportive interventions such as training programs and supply of logistics and engagement to mitigate some of the excesses"

He noted that the effort to support the Ghanaian media began several years ago.

"Successive governments have attempted to aid the media with interventions that are targeted at helping resolve some of the challenges without seeking to unduly influence the media. Other development partners have at other times offered training on election reporting and other matters of peculiar interest to these development partners. The private sector actors have also at times offered training support for business or sector related reporting.

The outcomes of such interventions have however, not been stunningly impactful. The recent examples of the media development fund of the previous administration and even the Mechanism on safety of Journalists by this administration should be humble reminders that we can do more in supporting the Ghanaian media than we are doing currently. Like the other estates of the realm that advocate for and genuinely deserve investments to improve the quality of output, so too does the media require relevant, timely, sustained investment to improve the quality of its output"

He charged the development partners to explore how to coalesce around a set of media support programs that respond to the most pressing needs of the Ghanaian media and put our concentrated best energies behind them.

He said "In 2019, the Ministry of Information collaborated with the media professionals themselves, stakeholder groups and academia to assist in fashioning out support programs that are most critical to the work of the media. In the end, the Ministry arrived at two media support programs; The Media Capacity Enhancement Programme  2. The Co-ordinated Mechanism for the safety of journalists"

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah mentioned that the MCEP is designed to create a framework within which academia and practitioners develop and execute training programs for practicing producers, journalists and editors to enhance their capacity to deliver on their mandate.

He also noted that the CMSJ is designed to continuously promote and ensure the maintenance of free robust environment for journalism.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah stressed that despite best intentions, these interventions have yielded limited results as will be pointed out in our presentations later today.

He was confident that there is a potential to constitute some of the most impactful interventions in supporting the fourth estate if well funded and well executed.

"For example after we commissioned on 4th May 2021, the CMSJ office under the auspices of the National Media Commission, the programs of the office though at its early stages have  already chalked some success in dealing with one issue involving the National Security Ministry and a CITI FM journalist"

Additionally, the framework for curriculum developed by stakeholders for the media capacity enhancement program is also expected to help deal with the gaps in media practice and  enhance the media’s contribution to our growth and development agenda.

"Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen;

The importance of these initiatives in our nation building efforts cannot be overemphasized. We have, therefore, invited you all here today as development partners to join efforts with the state, in providing complimentary technical and financial support towards this endevour. Your partnership will help in ensuring that the limited impact of these programs and their true potential is widened to reach all the regions of Ghana especially in places where they are needed the most. Your human capital and your financial resources will go a long way in underwriting the success and impact that these programs can yield. We know that resources, post covid, are constrained the world over, but we also know that now is the time to make the necessary investments in our fourth estate so it can play its full role in stimulating quicker recovery and strengthening our democracy"

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah challenged the private sector colleagues to play their part in ensuring there is success.

"The Ghanaian media occupies a very significant place in our national life. It has the potential to multiply our best efforts. It also has the potential to take us down south. It must not be left on its own to prod through the dark, hoping to find its way to the very top. It must be assisted and supported with the best of our technical and financial muscle to make excellence, excellence of global repute, the norm and not the exception"

He noted that it is the collective interest, State, Private sector and development partners to provide assistance in a coordinated, focused institutionalized, and nationwide manner if they intend to make the desired impact. 

On his part, the GJA President, Affail Monney lauded the Ministry of Information and pledged his support towards the course.

Below is a video and pictures:

Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith