GJA appeals to gov't to support struggling state-owned media
The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has urged the government to take swift action to support state-owned media outlets from to help prevent a collapse.
Speaking during a courtesy call on President John Dramani Mahama at the Jubilee House on Friday [September 5, 2025], the GJA President said many of these institutions are facing severe operational and production challenges that threaten their survival.
“We need government intervention to save our dying state-owned media from collapsing. Ahead of the 2024 election, the then presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, pledged at a media engagement to retool the state media and bring life into it,” Mr Dwumfuour said.
He emphasised that the GJA was drawing attention to the urgent need for government support, stressing that without intervention, state-owned media risk shutting down completely.
“This is just a gentle reminder that the state-owned media is struggling, it is dying, and we need you to retool it to bring it back to life, from the production challenge to all the other challenges that confront it,” he added.
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President Mahama on his part highlighted the challenges facing state-owned media in an era of rapidly evolving information consumption.
He observed that traditional platforms such as newspapers and television are losing audiences to short videos, bloggers, and online channels.
He stressed the need for retooling and enhancing the production capacity of state-owned media to ensure they remain relevant in today’s media ecosystem.
“It will be important to retool them, but also see how they can enhance their production so that they continue to remain relevant. We can take best practices from abroad, from the New York Times and Financial Times… they have quickly switched to online and have very effective online subscriptions,” he noted.
President Mahama encouraged Ghanaian state-owned media to adopt similar models by strengthening their digital presence and introducing innovative subscription strategies to better engage audiences.
He, however, reaffirmed the continuing importance of public broadcasting, especially in delivering educational content in local languages — a service that private outlets may not prioritise.
To this end, he urged improvements in programming and presentation to make state-owned media more visually engaging and impactful, ensuring they remain an indispensable part of Ghana’s communication landscape.
