30% media outlets collapse due to financial constraints – Minister

The Minister of Information designate, Fatimatu Abubakar, has asserted that nearly 30 per cent of radio stations established in the country collapsed within six months of operation.
This, according to her, was largely due to financial constraints these establishments face, adding that most radio and electronic media outlets are set up as non-viable entities.
Ms Abubakar made these observations when a delegation from the DW Academy called on her, at the ministry, in Accra, on Tuesday.

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Ms Abubakar (middle) with a delegation from the DW Academy

The visit was to ascertain how Ghana was positioning her media space, to deal with the growing global dynamics of artificial intelligence, and capacity enhancement programmes for media practitioners.
“A recent research indicated that 30 per cent of electronic media houses established in Ghana collapse within six months due to financial constraints. Generally, there is so much struggle within the media space, therefore, media houses can do with some support,” Ms Abubakar revealed.
She said government welcomed global organisations that desired to offer financial support and capacity enhancement for Ghanaian media outlets.
Ms Abubakar was upbeat about the soon to open African Regional Office of the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), in Accra, which would offer financial support to media houses in the country.
She said government had already provided an office for IFPIM, which was undergoing renovation, and expected to be commissioned in a month’s time.
Ms Abubakar said the official opening of the office would enable media houses to apply for financial support from IFPIM, to bolster their operations and ultimately enhance media freedom in the country.
She noted that the huge number of media outlets in the country made it difficult for them to sustain their operations and provide better staff remunerations.
Ms Abubakar, however, highlighted government’s interventions over the past two years to support media outlets in the country.
She listed the media capacity enhancement programme that provided training in media ethics and professionalism, coordinated programme on safety of journalists and the public campaign against misinformation and disinformation.
Ms Natascha Schwanke, the Director of Media Development, Deutsche Welle Academy, said the Academy received funding from the German Development Ministry, and had been working to sustain and foster good information environment in their host nations.
The Director, who is also leader of the delegation, said since its office was opened in Ghana in 2018, it had been working to enhance media information literacy and policy implementation projects with partner institutions.
Ms Ama Kodjo, the Programme Director, Deutsche Welle Academy, said it had been supporting investigative journalism and building the capacity of Ghanaian investigative journalists.
She stated that the academy had also been supporting content creation and methodically training of media outlets in Ghana, and cited the Fourth Estate as one of the beneficiaries of its training programmes.
Ms Kodjo said her outfit also offered training on media information literacy for both media outlets and their audiences, to ensure quality dissemination of Information, and also enhance proper analysis of media information by the audiences to avert the spread of falsehoods.

BY CLIFF EKUFUL