GJA CALLS FOR NATIONAL BROADCASTING FUND (Page 3)

06/03/2008

Story: Mary Mensah
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has called on the government to establish a National Broadcasting Fund to support public service broadcasting in the country.
It said the fund, to be managed by the National Media Commission (NMC), should come predominantly from public sources and must be substantial enough to prevent marginalisation in the sector.
The call was contained in a six-point communiqué presented to the NMC by the GJA on the way forward for Public Service broadcasting in the country.
The communiqué, which was drafted by all players in the communication industry in December last year, covers six areas such as general issues, policy and legal framework, funding, programming, GBC efficiency and the way forward.
They contended that effective public service broadcasting was crucial for the consolidation of democratic culture in Ghana as well as the country’s overall development process in view of its unique role in disseminating information and knowledge and in providing a forum for all sections of the society to express their opinion.
It said the executive, legislature and the NMC should work to develop policy for broadcasting in Ghana, which policy must be backed by legislation and must be in conformity with the letter and spirit of the constitution especially at it related to the freedom and independence of the media.
According to the communiqué, there is the urgent need for the organisation and restructuring of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and to enable the process to take place successfully under the public sector reform, the NMC, the legislature and the Attorney General’s Department should revisit the Subvented Agencies Act and rectify any contradictions that might affect the state-owned media.
The Chairman of the commission, Mr Adu Gyamfi, who received the communiqué, which was presented to him by the President of the GJA, Mr Ransford Tetteh, said the NMC was committed to public service broadcasting.
He said the NMC would continue to seek support from all stakeholders to ensure a free media landscape in the country.
Mr Adu Gyamfi said a media advocacy bill had already been presented to parliament and the NMC would lobby to ensure its passage before the end of the year.
Mr Ransford Tetteh thanked the Fredriech Herbert Foundation for supporting the GJA to undertake sampling of opinion about the future of Public Service Broadcasting in the country.
In conducting the exercise, he said, the GJA did so in order to protect journalists working at the GBC, which is a major constituency of the GJA, and also to re-define the role of the GBC in the dissemination of information.
He expressed the hope that the NMC would carry the debate on the future of the Public Service Broadcasting further in the country’s effort to re-structure the GBC.
Mr Kwesi Afriyie-Badu of KAB Consult said regional consultative fora on the same theme were organised in five regions, namely Volta, Eastern, Western, Ashanti and Northern to collate views on public sector broadcasting, with emphasis on the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).
He said there was the need for the government to resource GBC to enable it to play its public service role effectively and added that the NMC was well placed to lead the process to its destination.
Mr Afriyie-Badu said other agencies like the Ministry of Information and National Orientation and Parliament had a role to play in the process.
The Resource Person for the programme, Mr Berifi Appenteng, said public service broadcasting served as a platform for all ideas and added that it would not be limited only to GBC but other private ones that could also come in as time went on to be assisted.