WORKERS of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) have been commended for working hard for the corporation to meet the challenges as a state-owned media organisation.
The Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Mr Kabral Blay-Amihere, who made the commendation, said the company’s determination and resilience in the face of many odds had brought the station that far.
He mentioned some of the difficulties as poor remuneration, poor equipment and unfavourable working environment, adding that in spite of all those challenges, the staff of the company were able to produce news and entertainment to the people day and night.
Mr Blay-Amihere, who was addressing the GBC Divisional Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) delegates conference said the full story would be told at its 75th (Diamond) Jubilee celebration.
The conference was on the theme: “Emerging challenges of public broadcasting: The role of the union.”
Mr Blay-Amihere quoted the old adage that, “To those that much has been given, much is expected,” to buttress his point.
“It is universally accepted that the media are very vital to the building of every nation. As pioneer in broadcasting in the country, and as a state-owned public broadcasting service, much has been expected from GBC with so little given to it to fulfil its mandate,” Mr Blay Amihere stressed.
He said he was aware of the new challenges facing the service in the wake of the expanded media landscape with more than 120 FM radio stations, as well as more than 50 newspapers.
Mr Blay-Amihere also touched on the advent of the Internet, which sometimes was at the disadvantage of GBC which had a reputation of high professionalism and a national mandate that was not driven by profit but service to the nation.
The NMC Chairman commended the workers for resisting the temptation to “abandon the ship and join greener pastures”.
He was of the opinion that the new Public Broadcasting Bill, when passed, would address the issue of funding and other related challenges that could make the GBC a truly public broadcaster.
The Director-General of GBC, Mr Ampem Darko, said for the corporation to achieve its vision of providing an efficient, reliable and credible broadcasting service in the fields of culture, education and entertainment which reflected national progress and aspirations, as well as generated more revenue, there was the need to review the existing rules and tariffs.
He recalled how toll bridge rates had gone up astronomically, but television licence fees still remained as low as 30Gp, a situation he stressed needed to be addressed to prevent the taxpayer’s station being used as poaching grounds for private stations.
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