The information minister-Designate, Fatimatu Abubakar on tuesday paid courtesy calls on some media houses in Accra as part of stakeholder engagements in the media sector.
The tour, which started in Accra, May 7, forms part of an exercise to engage the media to deal with emerging sector issues.
Madam Fatimatu Abubakar and her team first visited the EIB Group, which owned GHOne, Starr FM and Kasapa FM, as its flagship brands.
The team also visited Kessben Media and Wontumi Radio and Movement Television.
Madam Abubakar commended management and staff of the media houses for championing professionalism and using their platforms to engage all stakeholders in national discourse.
She urged the workers to continue to engage the government and provide feedback on issues of national concern.
She underscored the Government’s commitment to ensuring a conducive environment for free and responsible media while assisting the work of journalists through capacity enhancement programmes.
Interacting with management and staff at the media houses, Madam Abubakar called for a greater collaboration between the media and other stakeholders including government in deepening the country’s democracy.
The Minister-Designate called for media support and participation in the upcoming Third Africa Media Convention slated for May 15-17, 2024.
The convention, an annual media convention, is a collaborative effort supported by the African media stakeholders, to reflect on the fundamental role of journalism on the continent, celebrate fundamental principles of press freedom and deliberate on measures towards safeguarding media freedom.
It also seeks to promote access to information, the safety of journalists and media visibility in Africa Union member states.
Madam Abubakar reiterated Ghana’s significant improvement in press freedom rankings from 62nd out of 180 countries to 50th position.
She attributed the recent improvements in Ghana’s media ranking to the Office of the Safety of Journalists and the Media Capacity Enhancement Programme which had contributed immensely to the quality of journalism practice in the country.
Some of the media owners lamented the increasing rate of misinformation and disinformation in the digital space and appealed to the Ministry to support sanitising content online.
Madam Abubakar announced that the Third Cohort of the Media Capacity Enhancement Programme would commence soon and urged media owners to allow their media personnel to participate in the training.
The information minister Designate informed the media owners of the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), a media development fund targeting independent media institutions.
She indicated that IFPIM’s interest was in the sustainability of media houses and urged all media houses to take advantage of the Fund.
