Government must equip state media with modern equipment - Dr Ansah

Dr. Ernest Ansah, the Founder of Data Link Institute and Technology, has called on the government to properly equip the state media with modern equipment to support their work.

Dr. Ansah, who is also the Founder of the Centre for Business and Media Studies, told the Ghana News Agency that the lack of equipment was a setback for the work of media personnel in the state media.

He was speaking on the topic, “Transformation of the media landscape from the analogue age to the digital age; the role of training institutions.”

He noted that even though state media had well-trained journalists and other professionals compared to most private media houses, there were challenges meeting the changing trends of media practice.

He noted that to be able to churn out quality news that would be on par with international standards, media houses must be well equipped digitally to be able to gather news quickly, process it, and disseminate it.

Dr. Ansah further stated that with the current trend of fake news all over social media, state media houses were the only way to ensure that authentic and verifiable news got to the people in the shortest possible time.

He said that could only be achieved through the use of modern equipment such as high-spec mobile phones, tablets, laptops, cameras, and other applications for processing news.

He said the equipment must also be upgraded frequently to ensure they did not become obsolete and unable to meet the current needs of the journalists.

He also called for collaboration between the various media houses and training institutions to help provide for the practical needs of students aspiring to be journalists and ensure that the quality of news content was not lost over the years.

He also advised journalists to be abreast with new trends in journalism and apply artificial intelligence to their work to remain relevant in the profession.

Mrs. Ingrid Ansah, the Co-Founder of the Data Link Institute of Business and Technology, called for more practical training of journalists by giving opportunities to industry players to teach at the training institutions.

Mrs. Ansah said making use of such professionals would bring a new phase to the trained journalist, as practical examples instead of what training books contain alone would be taught and prepare the students for the field.

She said it was worrying that the majority of people who had good grades could not perform on the field as most of them engaged in rote learning (chew and pour) and cheating to pass and get a certificate instead of having practical training.

Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Regional Manager of Ghana News Agency Tema, called for a strong collaboration between the state media and the corporate world to supplement the government’s efforts in providing the required tools for operations.

Mr. Ameyibor said the state media should leverage their large corporate profile, geographical coverage, and professional human resources base, among other things, to enter into win-win partnership with the corporate world for the necessary logistics and consistent capacity building of staff.