"Ghanaian Times" to focus on rural reporting- Managing Director

Wa, Sept. 10, GNA- Mr. Kofi Asuman, Managing Director of New Times Corporation (NTC), publishers of the "Ghanaian Times" a national daily, has reiterated the commitment of Management to give adequate coverage to rural reporting.

This he said would bring out the real issues and challenges impeding the development of rural communities to public and government attention.

The paper, he said would have more coverage of stories from the rural areas, and encouraged journalists working with the paper to endeavour to reach out to the people and their activities in those areas.

Mr. Asuman said this when he paid a courtesy call on the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Madam Asibi Winifred Dy-Yakah on Monday. The call on the Minister forms part of the Managing Director's tour of the Region, which also took him to the Wa Regional Office of the NTC, where he interacted with the staff to find out their challenges and how it could be addressed.

He said equal publicity would be given to the coverage of District Assemblies and the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs), especially, their development programmes and other activities to let the government know how its development programmes were impacting on the lives of the people.

Mr. Asuman noted that Ghana was a developing country and that issues of the rural people must take centre stage in the country's development efforts, pointing out that the media has a bigger role to play in this direction.

He called on RCCs and the District Assemblies to assist journalists with the information needed for publication to enhance equal development of the country.

Mr. Asuman appealed to Ghanaians to avoid playing tribal sentiments on radio or in print, because such news was a threat to the nation and her people.

Rather, what Ghanaians should be doing is to advocate seriously for inter-tribal marriages and the boarding school system, which he said were essential tools in bringing the people of the country together. Madam Dy-Yakah assured Mr. Asuman of the RCC commitment to assist media personnel in the region to perform their duties effectively without any hindrance or fear.

She said the district assemblies were doing good work to bring the people out of deprivation and poverty, but these had not been brought to public domain, creating the impression that the situation was bleak and hopeless.

She commended the management of the paper for their sense of direction, and pointed out that it would help the RCCs and District Assemblies to bring out the good things they have been doing to the public domain.

Madam Dy-Yakah appealed to the people of the Region to invest in the education of their children, especially the girl-child, to help develop the region to catch up with the rest of the country. Mr. Asuman as part of the tour would also meet the staffs of the Centre for National Culture, Regional Directorate of Education, Regional Directorates of Health and Food and Agriculture as well as the Dean of University for Development Studies (UDS) and vendors. He would also visit Lawra, Jirapa/Lambussie and Nadowli Districts on Tuesday before departing for Tamale.