Graphic will maintain neutrality, professionalism - Prof. Karikari

The Board Chairman of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Professor Kwame Karikari, has given an assurance that the Daily Graphic will continue to maintain its independence and professionalism, especially in the run up to this year’s general election.

Some dignitaries who attended the event

“We want to assure the President, the government and all Ghanaians that the Daily Graphic will maintain its independent journalism, maintain and improve its professionalism and serve this country.

“This year is an election year and the Daily Graphic wants to assure all Ghanaians that it will serve its role as an independent newspaper, the newspaper that is reliable, that can be depended on for good records and for presenting the story to the satisfaction of all, so that we will continue to build our democracy with the Daily Graphic serving that purpose,” he added.

Prof. Karikari was speaking at the launch of the 70th anniversary of the GCGL at its head office at No. 3 Graphic Road in Accra yesterday.

Mrs Stephanie S. Sullivan, the US Ambassador to Ghana, responding to acknowledgement at the launch

Establishment

The GCGL was established in 1950 in the then Gold Coast by the Daily Mirror Group of the United Kingdom, with Mr Cecil King Jnr as the first head of the company.

Its original name was the West African Graphic Company Limited.

It published its first edition of the Daily Graphic on October 2, 1950, and followed it up in 1953 with the The Mirror.

Currently, the company has four more publications and a heavy and reliable online presence.

Some guests, current and former staff of the GCGL at the launch

Resilience

Prof. Karikari said the anniversary was a celebration of the resilience of Ghanaians to all the pains and vicissitudes of a nation that was growing up, adding that the GCGL was a testimony to the sustainability of sound business practices and planning, as it survived largely on substantial capital, new technology in printing, a wide distribution network, among other innovations.

“Now the GCGL’s importance in this country is many-sided; first of all, the Daily Graphic came in, introduced and sustained what we now consider as professional journalism, the kind of journalism that is relied on by all sectors of society and not being partisan or emotive or propagandist.

“Above all, celebrating the GCGL is also a celebration of press freedom. It is only in the Fourth Republic of our country’s history that an editor or journalist has not been dismissed, harassed or forced to get out of his job by the government,” he stated.

He said apart from the Fourth Republic, all other governments had detained, exiled, sacked or harassed editors, and cited the case of a columnist of the Daily Graphic, Bankole Timothy, a Sierra Leonean journalist who worked with the company and was deported.

Nana Kwaku Dei (right), a former Editor of the Daily Graphic, exchanging greetings with Mr Razak El-Alawa, a columnist of the Daily Graphic

Challenges

Prof. Karikari said the Fourth Republic had not only been good for press freedom; it had also created an atmosphere for the citizenry to express their views.

However, he said, it had introduced global phenomenon challenges to the print media, as “the digital revolution is becoming the death knell of the print media, and the GCGL is not alone in having to deal with this very serious phenomenon of existence”.

For instance, he said, the abundance of radio, television and other online portals was posing challenges to the print media including the GCGL.

Therefore, he said: ‘The GCGL is tested now to rethink and remodel its economy of business plans and activities. I believe that it is well funded and the management and staff are well-tuned to meet this challenge of our time.”

He assured the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, who launched the anniversary, that the Daily Graphic would continue to play its role as an independent newspaper of record to serve the country as it ought to and as the Constitution envisioned for it.

Prof. Karikari further thanked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for commending the management and staff of the GCGL recently for maintaining their independence and freedom from partisanship.

Mrs Jean Mensa (squatting), the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, interacting with Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye at the event. With them are Mr Ato Afful (2nd right), Managing Director of the GCGL, and Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal (right), the Minister of Business Development

Goodwill messages

The General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), Mr Solomon Kotei, congratulated the GCGL on the occasion of its 70th anniversary.

“The company was born amidst many private institutions; today, where are those institutions? The GCGL has survived all of them. The company has been and is still the largest newspaper publishing company in Ghana.

“Where the GCGL finds itself today is a direct reflection of its humble beginnings from the Gold Coast era in the 1950s.

Efforts made by its past management and workers up to this 70 years are highly commendable,” he said.

He said it was gratifying that the ICU, as a social partner, shared in the GCGL’s joy and successes as the industry leader in the print media.

In pre-recorded goodwill messages shown at the launch, former President John Mahama; the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; the Chairman of the National Media Commission, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, Mrs Gifty Affenyi Dadzie, a former member of the Council of State and first female GJA President, and a former Editor of the Daily Graphic, Ms Elizabeth Ohene, wished the company well in the coming years.