New Times Corporation gets new board
The eight-member reconstituted board of the New Times Corporation (NTC) was yesterday inaugurated by the National Media Commission (NMC), with a charge on the members to revive the fortunes of the corporation.
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The NMC said regaining the wealth of the NTC was a challenge that the management and staff of the NTC had faced.
The Chairman of the NMC, Mr Kabral Blay-Amihere, who inaugurated the board, charged the board, the management and the staff of the NTC to work in tandem, with the knowledge that everyone had a role to play in the renaissance of the corporation.
The members of the board are Mrs Rose-Margaret Kpodo, Chairperson; Mr Nicholas Kodzo Akyire, Mrs Ivy Ruby Austin and Mr Colin Benjamin Essamuah.
The others are Mr Zakaria Tanko Musah, Mr Andrew Danso-Aninkora, Mrs Sheila Minkah-Premo and Ms Carol Annan, the Managing Director of the NTC.
Teamwork
Mr Blay-Amihere said all three workforces must take a collective decision to ensure that both the Ghanaian Times and the The Spectator, two brands of the NTC, gained full relevance and influence.
He recalled the high level of quality writing and production at the Ghanaian Times when he worked there as a journalist and said, “Money was no problem in my time and the corporation paid workers fortnightly.”
However, he said, currently the NTC had no packaging department and published only two newspapers whose combined circulation could not generate enough revenue to make the company financially sufficient.
“New Times has no sporting paper since its Sporting Times died some years ago,” he said.
Seek welfare of employees
Mr Blay-Amihere, who was a Features writer and columnist of the Ghanaian Times and the Weekly Spectator some decades ago, also charged the board to seek the welfare of staff and provide facilities to make the NTC business a priority.
He suggested that new lines of activities and operations must be explored to improve the revenue of the NTC.
Media independence
He reminded the boards of all state media that the independence of journalists was guaranteed by Article 173 of the 1992 Constitution, in spite of the broad functions and supervisory role of the NMC.
He said consequently, the NMC, as well as the boards of the state media, could not exercise any control over the editorial functions of a person engaged in the production of a newspaper.
Partner board
In an acceptance speech read on her behalf, Mrs Kpodo promised the NMC that the reconstituted board would utilise the varied expertise of its members to make an impact on the long-term outlook of the NTC.
She said the board would not seek its interests but rather work in the interest of the organisation and urged the staff to partner the board to achieve the vision for the betterment of the corporation.
