You Are Boring, Lecturer tells Media

Ms. Nana Yaa Ofori-Atta, a lecturer at the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana has asked the Ghanaian media, especially the print media to get their act together and show more interest in themes other than only what the politicians are doing or saying.

She said instead of making radio stations scapegoats for their dwindling sales, they should rather face the reality of their own dismal performance in terms of the kinds of stories they carry, the bad grammar they employ and the poor quality photography, and design/layout of their newspapers.

Ms. Ofori-Atta was addressing guests at a reception organised by the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) at the Novotel Hotel last Friday. The purpose of the reception was to "thank all media executives and companies who have supported the work of the AWDF recently" and to formally introduce themselves to media executives in Ghana who "are not familiar with the work we do".

In a no holds-barred speech, Ms. Ofori-Atta took her colleagues on, and said the generality of the print media had become boring from repeating over and over the same political topics. She said even though women comprise over fifty percent of the population, their issues are not considered newsworthy enough to attract headlines.

She praised the originators of AWDF for their bold initiative in support of African women.

AWDF is the first Africa-wide grant making organization that has been set up to provide grants to African women's organizations. The Africa launch of the fund took place on December 8 last year in Accra.

AWDF's continental vision wants "African women to live in a world in which there is social justice, equality and the respect for women's rights". To achieve this they aim "to mobilise financial resources to support initiatives led by women".

AWDF does not work as a normal NGO, said Ms. Joanna Foster, Co-founder and Chair of AWDF who gave a short address at the function. "We raise money and make grants for the support of non-profit African women's organizations," she explained.

This unique mission means that unlike the ordinary NGO, AWDF is essentially a donor agency whose activities could involve sponsorship packages for NGOs. In the first awarding cycle of the fund, US$344,000 was disbursed to thirty-eight women's organizations from nineteen African countries. Ten of the beneficiary organizations are from Ghana.

To date, the fund has been able to raise US$2 million in grants and commitments from international donors such as the Ford Foundation and Carnegie Corporation.

The media reception was preceded a day earlier by one for corporate executives because, says Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Executive Director, in a news release, "As an important part of our resource mobilisation strategy, we are working towards attracting sponsorship and support from African governments, the media, the private sector, African philanthropists, the African Diaspora and the international business community."