Mikki Osei Berko
Veteran movie actor and broadcast journalist, Mikki Osei Berko, also known as Master Richard, has described the format of morning show programmes in the country as reverse journalism.
He said hosts of socio-political morning shows on the various media platforms rely largely on newspaper stories for their programmes and it is not the way to go.
According to Mikki, these presenters could have used the platform to churn out relevant and enlightening contents rather than always dissecting what the print media publishes.
"You have to be creative. First of all, morning shows in Ghana is reverse journalism," he said. "You are on air something has happened, you can report it at that moment if your journalists are assertive and proactive you can broadcast it live."
Speaking to Agyemang Prempeh on the latest episode of the Legends programme which aired on Sunday, 20 September 2020, the ace broadcaster could not fathom why the electric media feed on the print media for their various programmes.
He stated that radio stations are ahead of the print media, however, morning show hosts should up their game and refrain from depending on newspaper publications.
"Graphic [the print media] when can they report?" He quizzed. "The radio is waiting for graphic to publish stories before they use it for newspapers review. What broadcasting are we doing?"
He added that, "Most of the morning shows that's what happen. They even dissect the newspaper issues."
The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation trained journalist and seasoned broadcaster with over two decades of experience in the media space further called on presenters to be creative stating Ghanaian morning shows is nothing to write home about.
"If I get the opportunity I will do that again. Morning show isn't what we see in Ghana," he said adding,"When I started hosting morning show on Happy FM, my target was to get (late) Santo on board to host the morning show.
The former Accra-based Happy FM morning show host said they should change the trend and bring something positive and refreshing to the table.
"Morning in the time one brings information. Something interesting and exciting to put smiles on people's faces to usher them into a wonderful day," he concluded.
