FCC’s Mignon Clyburn visited Ghana and met with Journalists and New Media Activists to learn more about how the internet is changing our media landscape.
Gradually, Ghanaian bloggers and freelance journalists in Ghana are getting the necessary attention and recognition they deserve to keep on impacting their communities positively and also in creating awareness about social issues that need to be discussed and addressed.
I was very glad (and a bit nervous) when Stephen Anti formerly of Joy 99.7 FM and now with the US Embassy in Accra extended an invitation to attend and also be a panelist on a round-table discussion on the topic: Internet Use and the Ghanaian Media.
The forum was held by the Information Resource Center (IRC) of the US Embassy in honour of the visiting Federal Communications Commissioner; Mignon L. Clyburn who was in Ghana for a couple of days and wanted to meet and interact with media practitioners in Ghana.
On the panel was Mrs. Abigail Bonsu from the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Isaac Yeboah from Multimedia Group Ltd representing MyJoyOnline, Emmanuel Dogbevi of Ghana Business News, Kojo Asante of Peace FM Online (he couldn’t make it, I guess) & yours truly representing the prestigious Ghana Blogging Community, Future Challenges Organization & Global Voices Online.
Each panelist was allocated 20-mins to present his/her ideas and opinions on the topic being discussed.
Mr. Isaac Yeboah was the first to take the floor, where he shared insights into the running of http://myjoyonline.com as a different organization from the radio station; Joy 99.7 fm. He also touched on content aggregation and how viral some political topics could shoot up with several comments wherein another instance, an article about the Ghanaian 2011 Budget presentation won’t even be looked at by readers/news junkies.
Next was Mr. Emmanuel Dogbevi who talked about how he’s running ; http://ghanabusinessnews.com all by himself without any financial support from anyone. He’s actually motivated to continue this venture knowing that, it surely going to pay off someday.
He also stressed on how his outfit is doing very well when it comes to reporting business news in Ghana and how he won’t allow any organization, company or person to stand in his way of reporting.
Mrs. Abigail Bonsu spoke briefly on what her outfit hope to achieve now that, traditional journalism is almost dying out because of new media (social media) been embraced by all and sundry.
I had a presentation prepared for my session therefore, I happened to be the last to speak. I spoke briefly about myself and the various organizations I’m connected to. I recommended the US Embassy in Accra to share info’s and other important contents from their outfit via Social Media platforms just like US Embassy Pretoria and Harare are doing.
Follow them on Twitter here: @USEmbPretoria & @USEmbassyHarare. Would be very glad to see a US Embassy Accra Twitter account soon, though. #USEmbassyAccra
Please find my presentation below.
Photo Credit: Federal Communications Commission.
Related articles
- Africa not likely to achieve MDG’s – Ms Ayittey – Ghana News Agency (news.google.com)
- How Influential Are You Online? Use Klout…! (macjordangh.wordpress.com)
- How Many Ghanaians Are On Facebook? (macjordangh.wordpress.com)
