US will support free media in Ghana

The Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy Section (PAPDS) of the American Embassy in Ghana has assured Ghanaians of America’s continuous support in ensuring a free and vibrant media in Ghana.

In view of this, the Minister-Counsellor of the PAPDS, Mr Daniel Fennell, said the directorate would soon collaborate with the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to expand the media landscape in the country.

The initiative, according to him, is meant to connect the two countries and to project them for the countries’s mutual benefit as far as the media landscape is concerned.

Mr Fennell made this known when he called on the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, in Accra.

His visit was also meant to familiarise himself with the operations of the various brands of the company, namely the Mirror, Graphic Sports, Junior Graphic, Graphic Showbiz, Graphic Business and Graphic Online.

State of print media in America 

With the emergence of social media, Mr Fennell said the print industry in the United States of America (USA) was going through a lot of challenges.

In spite of the difficulties, he admitted that the print media served as a source of historical document for those who might need specific information at a particular time.

Experience in Ghana

Like the US and other countries in the world, Mr Tetteh said the challenges the print media was facing were quite similar due to the emergence of the social media.

In Ghana, he said, some radio stations usually reviewed the newspapers cover-to-cover, to the disadvantage of the print media in most cases.

He, however, said GCGL for instance was doing its best to keep the industry moving as it was critical for national development, but admitted that it was challenging.

“We are trying our best to make the newspaper a preferred consumable product by publishing stories that help the people to carry out their daily endeavours,” he said.

Measuring stick

Mr Tetteh said Graphic was the standard bearer in journalism in the country, adding that as a result of this, it received a lot of criticisms and rebukes whenever it made a mistake in the production of news.

Graphic, he mentioned, had also served as a reference point and a source of history through the daily information it provided.