The Regional Manager exchanged memorabilia with Press Attach
Ms. Naomi Mattos, the Press Attaché at the United States of America’s Embassy in Accra, has pledged to build stronger relationship with the Ghanaian media.
She said relationship really mattered in the Embassy's quest to project the initiatives, development projects and other self-help programmes of the US Government in Ghana, foster partnership and collaboration.
It was on the basis of this that accessibility to the public affairs section of the Embassy by journalists and all development partners to allow for information sharing, had remained a priority.
She was speaking during a visit to the Western Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency to interact with Mrs. Justina Paaga, the Regional Manager.
She said by the visit, she would be able to have first-hand information about the challenges of the media, the successes and ways to deepen the working relationship with the media.
The Press Attaché, who had worked extensively in southern Africa and south Asia, would be in Ghana for three years as lead of communication at the Embassy.
She expressed concern about morning programmes on radio and television, saying they spoke virtually about the same topics without diversity, “I am still getting use to the cadence and rhythm of the news on the media terrain in the country".
“In the morning when I switched any of the media outlets it’s virtually the same issues without any diversity of ideas and subjects," Ms Mattos said.
Mrs Justina Paaga said the Agency's was grateful for the Embassy's support and visits from time to time to interact and share information on the state of the Ghanaian media.
She spoke about the influx of quacks - all manner of characters parading as journalists, creating image problems for the journalism profession.
Mrs Paaga said sanitizing the media industry was critical to growing the country's democracy through quality discourse on radio, television and the newspapers.
The Regional Manager later exchanged memorabilia with Press Attaché..
