Reviving state media requires more than retooling- Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has stressed that revitalising Ghana’s state-owned media requires more than just providing new equipment.
According to him, it demands a comprehensive strategy to ensure their survival and relevance in the fast-changing media landscape.
His remarks came in response to an appeal from the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfuor, who urged government action to rescue struggling state media outlets. Dwumfuor reminded Mahama of his 2024 campaign promise to revive the sector, warning that it faces imminent collapse without decisive intervention.
“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. You even promised that you will under no circumstances privilege it,” Dwumfuor said.
In response, President Mahama acknowledged the sector’s significant structural and financial challenges but argued that the issues go beyond funding and equipment.
“The state media are caught up in the changing media. Because the landscape has changed, and people are consuming information from more sources than before. This means people are reading fewer newspapers, and people want less of the traditional media and getting a lot of their information from short videos and bloggers,” he explained.
While retooling remains necessary, Mahama emphasised the need to modernise content and strengthen production quality to meet evolving audience expectations.
“It is not enough to just retool the state media, but also see how we can enhance their production so that they continue to remain relevant. We can take best practices from international news platforms,” President Mahama said, citing the Financial Times and The New York Times as examples of successful adaptation in the digital age.
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