Media urged to educate public on govt policies

Accra, Dec. 5, GNA - Mrs Oboshie Sai-Cofie, Minister of Information and National Orientation, on Wednesday asked the media to balance its reportage to address public concerns instead of concentrating on sensational stories that sell.

She also expressed concern about why the electronic media often reviewed front-page stories to the neglect of other contents that educated the public on government policies and programmes. Mrs Sai-Cofie was interacting with management of the New Times Corporation, publishers of the Ghanaian Times, Spectator and the Times Sport during a media tour with the Deputy Information Minister, Mr Frank Agyekum and other officials of the Ministry.

The Minister earlier visited the Ghana Publishing Corporation (Assembly Press) and the Odorgonno Senior High School. Mrs Sai-Cofie said she was also not happy that Ghanaian journalists were not winning international awards and therefore pledged to organize more workshops to enhance media standards.

She said government had observed the performance of the Corporation over the years to compete effectively and commended management and staff for the hard work.

She pledged government's support to the Corporation to enable it to complement efforts in the dissemination of policies.

Mr Kofi Asuman, Managing Director for New Times, said the Corporation was undergoing changes to enable it to perform its role well and called for closer collaboration with the Ministry. Ms Ajoa Yeboah Afari, Editor, Ghanaian Times, also urged the Ministry to consider the challenge that confronted the state media in educating the public and keeping their market at the same time. At the Assembly Press, Mr Sammy Kwatia, Acting Managing Director, said as a result of the Corporation's cash flow problems, it was indebted to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) by over 700,000 Ghana cedis.

He said inflow of contracts and the nature of their machines were also making it difficult for them to compete effectively with private printing houses and called on the Ministry to intervene on their behalf. Mrs Sai-Cofie advised the Corporation to revamp itself by considering the use of Information Communication Technology and produce CDs and brochures on the 2008 budget for sale to generate funds. At Odorgonno School, the Minister together with Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Member of Parliament for Weija, inspected on-going projects in the school, interacted with students on the national orientation programme and advised them to study hard. Mrs Mary Amankwah, Headmistress, expressed appreciation to government for selecting it as a model school and providing funds for projects. 05 Dec. 05