Produce quality local content — Joyce Aryee

The Executive Director of the Salt and Light Ministries, Dr Joyce Aryee, has stated that the advent of modern technology and competition has led to a compromise in the quality of content on the media landscape in the country.

She also expressed concern over the proliferation of foreign content in the local media in recent times, saying that does not portray the Ghanaian culture.

She, therefore, called for premium content that would enhance and appeal to both local and global markets.

Dr Aryee was delivering the third in a series of lectures to mark the 80th anniversary of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) in Accra.

It was on the theme: “A milestone of quality and sound broadcasting: Promoting Ghanaian heritage and aspirations in a changing world”.

Investment

She urged GBC, as the custodian of Ghanaian societal values and heritage, to always match content with quality, such that the Ghanaian culture and identity would not be lost.

She stressed that, the role of GBC could not be underrated and, therefore, called for distinctiveness, independence, universality and diversity in its output. 

Dr Aryee further advocated a robust investment in the corporation to build it into a world-class media institution.

She said with adequate funding and technology improvement, GBC would be able to implement its mandate fully, while remaining relevant and competitive in the age of globalisation and technology.

Dr Aryee, who is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, therefore, called on the government and the management of GBC to come up with initiatives to generate enough funds to turn the organisation into a more credible, trusted and world-class media house.

Relevance

She said, due to the crucial role the corporation played in the development of the country, it had become necessary that the government continues to fund the public broadcaster.

“As a nation, we can accomplish much by continuing to invest in GBC without guilt or bitterness. It is our only public broadcast system and it is in our national interest to make it more alive and robust today than it had been in the last 80 years,” she said.

“The world has changed drastically and it will cost us money to remain relevant in this highly capitalist global landscape,” she indicated.

Dr Aryee mentioned the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as one of the public broadcasting corporations in the world that had grown bigger, better and more contemporary in the last several years with robust funding.

While commending GBC for its immense role in using both radio and television to promote a sense of national identity over the years, she urged it to join strategic alliances, deploy technology and skills to drive Ghana’s future.

The Board Chairman of GBC, Mr Richard Kwame Asante, expressed gratitude to Dr Aryee and gave an assurance that her recommendations would be considered.