Spio-Garbrah Charges Media Organzations To More Action

Accra, Sept 1, - Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Communications, today charged news organizations to be commercial- oriented in the provision of their products. ''There is the need to treat news as a commodity which is saleable ... provision of news should now fall within the general framework of reducing government expenditure. ''The news business is profitable business,'' he said at a meeting with the Management of Ghana News Agency in Accra. Mr Spio-Garbrah, who was making his first visit to the GNA since his appointment as minister of Communications, was conducted round the offices by Mr Sam Quaicoe, the General Manager. Mr Spio-Garbrah said the GNA with its wide network of correspondents throughout the country, could be sitting on a gold mine which it could use to its benefit. ''This will enable it to become less dependent on government. We've come a long way from the time when the Agency was set up to just provide information .... the situation has now changed ... the Agency has to change to fit into the times''.